... scientific theory scientific experiments Ernest Rutherford J.J. Thomson Bohr states with great precision the kind of interplay between theory and experiment so typical for the days of the old quantum theory. — Abraham Pais (1991, 192) Bohr’s curiosity about philosophical issues started...

...Although J.J. Thomson is credited with the discovery of the electron on the basis of his experiments with cathode rays in 1897, various physicists, including William Crookes, Arthur Schuster, Philipp Lenard, and others, who had also conducted cathode ray experiments claimed that they deserved...

...Fig. 1.1 The entrance to the Cavendish Laboratory on Free School Lane in Cambridge. Credit: Copyright Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge. Fig. 1.2 J.J. Thomson sitting in a chair once used by James Clerk Maxwell in his study at Holmleigh in 1899. Credit...

... of NKHF. To illustrate this point, the chapter delves into an example taken from the history of the electron. It reconstructs how J.J. Thomson arrived at the identification of the charge-to-mass ratio for what he called a ‘corpuscle’ working on cathode rays around 1897 and the role of situated epistemic...