jj thomson cathode ray experiment led to the discovery of

#Jj thomson cathode ray experiment led to the discovery of archive

Even with his heavy teaching load, he didn’t ignore his research and started spending some time in the laboratories working with the equipment.Īt Cambridge University, the theoretical aspects of science had always been emphasized rather than the practical laboratory work. This required a lot of his time in teaching classes, a task he always said he enjoyed. In 1882, he was elected to an Assistant Lectureship in mathematics. Thomson’s fellowship thesis was never published however, he did publish two long papers in the Philosophical Transaction of the Royal Society, and in a book, published in 1888 and titled, Applications of Dynamics to Physics and Chemistry. During this time, he worked in several areas of mathematical physics, concentrating on expanding the work of James Clerk Maxwell in electromagnetics. Thomson graduated second in his class in mathematics in 1880 and was awarded a fellowship to stay at Trinity for graduate work. He would remain at Trinity in some capacity for the remainder of his life.

Wanting to continue his education in math and science, Thomson won a scholarship to Trinity College, part of Cambridge University, and began there in 1876. Cambridge University and the Cavendish Laboratory At Owens, he published his first scientific paper, “On Contact Electricity of Insulators,' an experimental work elucidating a detail of James Clerk Maxwell’s electromagnetic theory. Since the family could no longer afford the cost of an engineering apprenticeship for young Thomson, he was forced to make his way with scholarships in the two areas in which he excelled: math and physics. J.J.’s younger brother, Fredrick, left school and got a job to help support the family. Thomson an experimental genius?’ ( 1986) Google Scholar, submitted to Social Studies in Science.In 1873, two years into his education at Owens, Thomson’s father died, leaving the family in financial distress. CrossRef Google Scholar In my thesis and a forthcoming paper, I discuss other ways in which the mechanical philosophy influenced Thomson's approach to experiment: Falconer, I., ‘J. As Wheaton has pointed out, the mechanical philosophy was implicit in Thomson and Schuster's cathode ray experiments: they assumed that macroscopic mechanical laws carried over into the microscopic realm: Wheaton, B., The Tiger and the Shark, Cambridge, 1983, p. He does not consider any experimental stimulus for the theory changes he describes, nor the influence of these theoretical commitments on Thomson's experimental work. However, Topper deals exclusively with Thomson's theoretical work. Google Scholar The last of these is particularly important for containing details of Thomson's vortex analogies and the way he transposed them from one situation to another. Thomson and the mechanical picture of nature’, Annals of Science, ( 1980), 37, p. 393 Google Scholar ‘To reason by means of images: J.

#Jj thomson cathode ray experiment led to the discovery of archive

71–19065 ‘Commitment to mechanism: J.J.Thomson, the early years’, Archive for the History of Exact Sciences, ( 1971), 7, p.

Thomson and Maxwell's Electromagnetic Theory’, Ph.D dissertation, Case Western Reserve University, 1970 Google Scholar, University Microfilms order No. CrossRef Google Scholar Topper has studied Thomson's commitment to mechanism in general, and to Maxwell in particular, in his thesis and two papers: Topper, D., ‘J. J., ‘ Mechanical explanation at the end of the nineteenth century’, Centaurus, ( 1972), 17, p. (20).ĥ5 Klein examines the status of the mechanical philosophy and visualisable analogies, particularly Maxwell's use of them: Klein, M. 510 Google Scholar ‘The disruptive discharge of electricity through gases’, Philosophical Magazine, ( 1890), V, 29, p. 371 Google Scholar ‘The passage of electricity through gases’, British Association Report, ( 1889), p. 317, 495 CrossRef Google Scholar ‘Experiments on the discharge of electricity through gases’, Proceedings of the Royal Society, ( 1887), 42, p. Schuster, A., ‘ Experiments on the discharge of electricity through gases: a sketch of a theory’ (Royal Society Bakerian Lecture), Proceedings of the Royal Society, ( 1884), 37, pp. At the relatively high pressures of Thomson's experiments, cathode rays were not a significant phenomenon, but they probably were in Schuster's experiments. Neither quotes figures for the pressures they were working at, but Schuster appears to have expended more time in evacuating his apparatus. 34 This difference between Schuster and Thomson was probably largely due to the conditions under which they performed their experiments.