Electron Discovery 100 Years Ago Led to Microwave Ovens, Television and Lasers

FOR RELEASE: Monday, June 16

ELECTRON DISCOVERY 100 YEARS AGO LED TO MICROWAVE OVENS, TELEVISION AND LASERS

Scientists are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the discovery of the electron this year. Detection of this enigmatic particle -- which still has not surrendered all its secrets to modern researchers -- helped lift society up from its agrarian roots and permitted the development of such modern-day devices as microwave ovens, semiconductors, television and lasers, according to an article in the June 16 issue of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the American Chemical Society's weekly news magazine. Electrons are the negatively charged particles that surround the nucleus in an atom.

British physicist Joseph John Thomson, who announced his discovery back in 1897, was recognized for his mathematical prowess rather than his experimental finesse. The Cambridge University professor "was not particularly gifted with apparatus," says University of Bristol professor Brian Foster. "It is said that when his graduate students heard him coming down the corridor, they hid their most delicate pieces of apparatus to avoid the possibility that he should break them." Nevertheless, Thomson won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1906, was knighted in 1908, and served as president of the Royal Society from 1915-20.

Thomson's particle turns out to be a very complex entity. Recent evidence suggests that the electron may consist of other particles. And although it appears to have mass, it doesn't seem to take up any space. "This is still one of the outstanding problems of particle physics," Foster says. Scientists are currently using the electron to probe the structure of matter and the origins of the universe, recreating in the lab the conditions that were present in the universe when matter emerged during the Big Bang.

A number of ongoing events and exhibits have been put in place to honor Thomson's work. These include an exhibit at London's Science Museum, which can be viewed on- line at http://www.nmsi.ac.uk.

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ACS News Service Contacts:

Print media: Jim Bohning, 202/872-6041 (office), [email protected] Broadcast media: Theresa Laranang-Mutlu, 202/872-4371 (office), [email protected] For a copy of the full article: Sally Pecor, 202/872-4451 (office), [email protected]

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The American Chemical Society, founded in 1876, is the world's largest scientific society, with more than 151,000 members.