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J. J. Thomson, who was born in 1856, received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1906 for his discovery of the electron, the first subatomic particle to be found.

Thomson was also a teacher, and seven of his students went on to win Nobel Prizes: Ernest Rutherford, Lawrence Bragg, Charles Barkla, Francis Aston, Charles Thomson Rees Wilson, Owen Richardson and Edward Victor Appleton.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._J._Thomson

Books by J.J. Thomson at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/38322

J.J. Thomson, Nobel Prize photograph (1906). Nobel foundation - http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1906/thomson-bio.html Joseph John Thomson (1856–1940), often referred to as J.J. Thomson, is shown in a candid pose, engrossed in writing or drawing, likely related to his scientific work. He is depicted as a middle-aged man with receding hair, a neatly groomed mustache, and a composed, intellectual demeanor. Thomson is wearing formal attire typical of the early 20th century: A dark tweed suit jacket with a subtle texture. A high-collared white shirt and a decorative tie or cravat. A pocket square neatly tucked into his breast pocket, adding to the formal appearance. He is wearing round spectacles, which were characteristic of the period and contributed to his scholarly appearance.

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"The difficulties which would have to be overcome to make several of the preceding experiments conclusive are so great as to be almost insurmountable."

Warning about the non-conclusiveness for the experimental foundation of electrostatic theory, in a footnote of the third edition of: James Clerk Maxwell (1891). A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism, Vol.1, 3rd Edition.

~J. J. Thomson (18 December 1856 – 30 August 1940)

replied to Project Gutenberg's status

@gutenberg_org He measured e/m which is the electron charge divided by the electron mass, and realized that this could only be constant if a given amount of mass carried a given amount of charge. This suggested charge and mass were carried together in discrete units he called corpuscles. When later the Millikan oil drop experiment measure quantized electric charge, the discrete electron was definitively identified. 103 years later the Higgs boson was announced.