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J.J. Thompson discovered it in 1897.

In 1896, the British physicist J.J. Thomson,with his colleagues John S. Townsend and H.A. Wilson performed experiments indicating that cathode rays really were unique particles,rather than waves,atom or molecules believed earlier.Thomson made good estimates of both the charge e and the mass m,finding that cathode ray particles,which he called "corpuscles,"had perhaps one thousand of the mass of the least massive ion known : Hydrogen (Atomic Mass : 1u).He showed that their charge to mass ratio,e/m was independent of cathode material.He further showed that the negatively charged particles produced by radioactive materials, by heated material and by illuminated materials were universal.The name electron was again proposed for these particles by the Irish physicist George F. Fitzgerald, and name has since gained universal acceptance.

-Ajlan Wasfi Khan

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12y ago

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