Timeline
1836
|
Nicholas Callan (Priest in Maynooth) | invented the Induction Coil (for high voltages) |
1855
|
Geissler | invented a good vacuum pump |
1855
|
Plucker and Geissler | observed fluorescence in a gas discharge tube. |
1867
|
Hittorf | identified the cathode as being responsible for the glow |
1868
|
Crookes | discovered that cathode rays were deflected by magnetic fields. |
1876
|
Goldstein | confirmed Hittorf’s view and introduced the name “cathode rays”. |
1884
|
Thomas Edison | discovered thermionic emission. |
1891
|
George Stoney (Irish scientist) | named the smallest quantity of electricity as an electron. |
1895
|
Jean Perrin (French scientist) | proved that cathode rays were negatively charged particles. |
1897
|
J.J. Thomson | measured the charge-to-mass ratio of the electron. |
1899
|
J. J. Thomson (England, 1856-1940) |
showed that the Edison effect is due to electrons . |
1909
|
Robert Millikan (American scientist) | measured the charge on tiny oi-droplets and hence deduced the charge on the electron. |
1913
|
Rutherford | proposed that electrons orbited a nucleus in an atom (like planets around a sun). |
1927
|
Heisenberg | Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle explained the difficulty of knowing where an electron is at any moment |
1933
|
Dirac (English physicist) | predicted the existence of an anti-particle for the electron. |