One experiment, more than any other, is often associated with the `discovery of the electron' in 1897. This is J J Thomson's determination of the mass to charge ratio (m/e) of cathode rays by deflecting them in magnetic and electric fields.
Yet this experiment was performed two months after Thomson first announced that cathode rays were very small, negatively charged particles. So why was it important? I look at Thomson's route to, and conduct of, the experiment, and then at how his ideas were received.
What Do You Think Of That Genius?
You Might Also Be Interested In
Why Einstein Was a Genius
Discoveries that Changed the World, 1932–1942: James Chadwick and Lise Meitner
My Time with Richard Feynman
The Simple Idea Behind Einstein’s Greatest Discoveries
Paul Dirac: The Man and his Work
William Shockley and the Transistor
In her short life, mathematician Emmy Noether changed the face of physics
The Remarkable Career of Shirley Ann Jackson
In two minds
An Interview with Edward Witten
The Long Road to Maxwell’s Equations
Charles Hard Townes: The Second Half-Century
People Who Read This Article Also Read About...
The playwright politician
The Complex World of Claudius Ptolemy
Personal Identity in Samuel Clarke
Chess Prodigy Aryan Chopra Becomes an IM at 13. Here Are 8 Things You Should Know About Him
The Long Road to Maxwell’s Equations
How Edgar Allan Poe Became Our Era’s Premier Storyteller
John Bright: Voice of Victorian Liberalism
Fermat's last theorem mathematician Andrew Wiles wins Abel prize
Lang Lang: 'I'd play the piano at 5am'
These Are The 16 Smartest People On The Face Of The Earth
The curious case of Minou Drouet
Ancient Tech: The Amazing Inventions Of Hero Of Alexandria
