Even though he was clumsy with his hands, he had a genius for designing apparatus and diagnosing its problems. In 1884 he was named to the prestigious Cavendish Professorship of Experimental Physics at Cambridge, although he had personally done very little experimental work. He was then recommended to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he became a mathematical physicist. Instead young Thomson attended Owens College, Manchester, which had an excellent science faculty. His father intended him to be an engineer, which in those days required an apprenticeship, but his family could not raise the necessary fee. Ironically, Thomson-great scientist and physics mentor-became a physicist by default. His assistant, Francis Aston, developed Thomson’s instrument further and with the improved version was able to discover isotopes-atoms of the same element with different atomic weights-in a large number of nonradioactive elements. Here his techniques led to the development of the mass spectrograph. Thomson’s last important experimental program focused on determining the nature of positively charged particles. His efforts to estimate the number of electrons in an atom from measurements of the scattering of light, X, beta, and gamma rays initiated the research trajectory along which his student Ernest Rutherford moved. In 1904 Thomson suggested a model of the atom as a sphere of positive matter in which electrons are positioned by electrostatic forces. Thomson was able to apply electric and magnetic fields to manipulate the rays, which eventually convinced the physics world that they were composed of tiny particles, electrons, opposed to waves in the now-rejected ether.įind out more about Thomson and the story of the first subatomic particle here, or visit the Museum to see Thomson’s cathode-ray tube in the Collider exhibition. If you’re interested in the details of how Thomson and Everett conducted their experiments visit the Cavendish Lab’s outreach page here.Structure of the Atom and Mass Spectrography Only when almost all the air has been removed to create a high vacuum – a state that would shatter ordinary glass vessels – can the rays travel the full length of the tube without bumping into air molecules. The quality of Everett’s glassblowing was absolutely crucial for the experiments to work.Ĭathode-rays are produced when an electric current is passed through a vacuum tube. Everett made all of Thomson’s apparatus, and was responsible for operating it – in fact, he generally forbade Thomson from touching anything delicate on the grounds that he was “exceptionally helpless with his hands”. Cambridge’s Cavendish Laboratory, where Thomson spent his scientific career, also has an original tube in its collection.Įach tube was custom-made by Thomson’s talented assistant, Ebenezer Everett, a self-taught glassblower. Using more than one cathode-ray tube in 1897 for his experiments, Thomson managed to identify a particle 1,000 times smaller than the then known smallest piece of matter: a hydrogen atom. I had read lots about Thomson’s famous experiments on the electron – the first subatomic particle to be discovered – but to actually see and touch his apparatus myself, to notice the blackened glass and the tube’s minute features that are omitted in books, brought the object to life. Holding the delicate glass cathode-ray tube in my hands, once used by the great physicist JJ Thomson, was an incredible treat, and an experience I will never forget. Rupert Cole celebrates JJ Thomson’s birthday with a look at one of the star objects in our Collider exhibition. Rupert Cole celebrates JJ Thomson's birthday with a look at one of the star objects in our Collider exhibition.
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