When and where was J. J. Thomson born?
Joseph John Thomson entered the world on the 18th of December 1856 in Cheetham Hill, Manchester.
Questions about J. J. Thomson
Short answers, pulled from the story.
What did J. J. Thomson discover about cathode rays in 1897?
J. J. Thomson made his suggestion on the 30th of April 1897 following his discovery that cathode rays could travel much further through air than expected for an atom-sized particle. He concluded that the rays were composed of very light negatively charged particles which were a universal building block of atoms.
How did J. J. Thomson prove the existence of isotopes?
In 1912 as part of his exploration into the composition of the streams of positively charged particles then known as canal rays Thomson and his research assistant F W Aston channelled a stream of neon ions through a magnetic and an electric field and measured its deflection by placing a photographic plate in its path. They observed two patches of light on the photographic plate which suggested two different parabolas of deflection and concluded that neon is composed of atoms of two different atomic masses neon-20 and neon-22 that is to say of two isotopes.
Who won Nobel Prizes under the supervision of J. J. Thomson?
Seven of his students went on to win Nobel Prizes including Ernest Rutherford who won Chemistry in 1908 Lawrence Bragg who won Physics in 1915 Charles Barkla who won Physics in 1917 Francis Aston who won Chemistry in 1922 Charles Thomson Rees Wilson who won Physics in 1927 Owen Richardson who won Physics in 1928 and Edward Appleton who won Physics in 1947. His son George Paget Thomson shared the 1937 Nobel Prize in Physics with Clinton Davisson for their experimental discovery of the diffraction of electrons by crystals.
When did J. J. Thomson die and where are his ashes located?
J. J. Thomson died on the 30th of August 1940 while serving as Master of Trinity College Cambridge a position he held until his death. His ashes rest in Westminster Abbey near the graves of Isaac Newton and his former student Ernest Rutherford.