J. J. Thomson
Discovered the electron and proposed the first model of the atom.
Most quoted
"As the cathode rays carry a charge of negative electricity, are deflected by an electrostatic force as if they were negatively electrified, and are acted on by a magnetic force in just the way in which this force would act on a negatively electrified body moving along the path of these rays, I can see no escape from the conclusion that they are charges of negative electricity carried by particles of matter."
— from Cathode Rays, 1897
"We have, in the cathode rays, matter in a new state, a state in which the subdivision of matter is carried very much further than in the ordinary gaseous state: a state in which all matter—that is, matter derived from different sources such as hydrogen, oxygen, etc.—is of one and the same kind; this matter being the substance from which all the chemical elements are built up."
— from Philosophical Magazine, 1897
"We have in the cathode rays matter in a new state, a state in which the subdivision of matter is carried very much further than in the ordinary gaseous state: a state in which all matter—that is, matter derived from different sources such as hydrogen, oxygen, etc.—is of one and the same kind; this matter being the substance from which all the chemical elements are built up."
— from Cathode Rays, 1897
All quotes by J. J. Thomson (395)
The unity of matter is one of the most striking results of modern physics.
All the chemical elements are built up of the same primordial substance.
The electron theory has brought chemistry and physics into much closer relationship.
The aim of physical science is to explain the complex in terms of the simple.
The progress of science is a continual process of simplification.
Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination.
The electron is the greatest discovery of the scientific age.
I have seen the future, and it is full of electrons.
The atom is not the ultimate limit of the subdivision of matter.
The forces which hold the electrons in the atom are electrical forces.
The vibrations of the electrons inside the atom may give rise to light.
The periodicity of the properties of the chemical elements may be explained by the arrangement of electrons in shells.
The discovery of isotopes by the method of positive rays shows that atoms of the same element may have different weights.
The positive ray parabolas are characteristic of the gas in the tube.
The apparatus for positive rays is, in principle, very simple.
Contemporaries of J. J. Thomson
Other Physicss born within 50 years of J. J. Thomson (1856–1940).