The Nobel Prize in Physics 1906 Joseph John Thomson was born in
Cheetham Hill, a suburb of Manchester on December 18, 1856. He
enrolled at Owens College, Manchester, in 1870, and in 1876
entered Trinity College, Cambridge as a minor scholar. He became
a Fellow of Trinity College in 1880, when he was Second Wrangler
and Second Smith's Prizeman, and he remained a member of the
College for the rest of his life, becoming Lecturer in 1883 and
Master in 1918. He was Cavendish Professor of Experimental
Physics at Cambridge, where he succeeded Lord Rayleigh, from
1884 to 1918 and Honorary Professor of Physics, Cambridge and
Royal Institution, Thomson's early interest in atomic structure
was reflected in his Treatise on the Motion of Vortex Rings
which won him the Adams Prize in 1884. His Application of
Dynamics to Physics and Chemistry appeared in 1886, and in 1892
he had his Notes on Recent Researches in Electricity and
Magnetism published. This latter work covered results obtained
subsequent to the appearance of Ja