Abstract
Rayleigh was elected President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Montreal in 1884, that association’s first meeting outside the British Isle s. When he returned in early November, he notified the Vice Chancellor of his resignation from the professorship of experimental physics. Rayleigh’s resignation was formally announced on November 17, and election of his successor was scheduled for December 22.3 Rayleigh left Cambridge on December 13, thus clearly indicating that he would not influence the election.
My doubt was whether Thomson should be professor of experimental physics. He had done very little experimenting at that time, though enough to show that he could do it. But he has shown since that it was right to appoint him.
Lord Rayleigh
I had looked on you as a mathematician, not an experimental physicist, and could not at first bring myself to regard you in that light.
R. T. Glazebrook
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Reference
Shutt, Life of J.J. Thomson, 20.
Ibid., Glazebrook’s letter to J.J. Thomson after the election.
CUR (18 November 1884): 165 and (25 November 1884): 186.
CUL MSS O. XIX 52, Elections of Professors from 1826, vol. I, 196.
See Strutt, Life ofJ.J. Thomson, 21–22.
Strutt, Life of Rayleigh, 415. See also Strutt, Life ofJ.J. Thomson, 20.
The electors were Vice-Chancellor N. M. Fen-ers, Prof. R. B. Clifton, Prof. G. H. Darwin, Sir W. R. Grove, Prof. G. D. Liveing, Prof. W. D. Niven, Prof. G. G. Stokes, Prof. J. Stuart, Prof. W. Thomson.
J.J. Thomson, Recollections, 98.
CUR (5 April 1881): 446. This topic was announced in 1881, with the suggestion that “the case of two linked vortices should be fully discussed, with the view of determining (1) whether any steady motion is possible, and (2) whether any motion can occur in which there are periodical changes in the forms and dimensions of the vortices.” Thomson’s essay, a purely mathematical one, won the coveted prize and was published as a separate volume under the title, A Treatise on the Motion of Vortex Rings (Cambridge, 1883).
The Adams Prize, established in 1848 to honor John Couch Adams, was awarded every two years “for an Essay on some subject of Pure Mathematics, Astronomy, or other branch of Natural Philosophy.” Maxwell won the Prize in 1857, Poynting in 1893, and Larmor in 1899. See The Historical Register of the University of Cambridge to the Year 1910, 321.
CUL MSS, ADD 7655, III (d) 5, 41, and also ADD 8385. 10, 9.
Strutt, Life of Rayleigh, 127, 415 and 413 respectively.
CUL MSS ADD 7654 D4 (25 January 1883 ): G. H. Darwin to J.J.
Strutt, Life of J.J Thomson , 19.
Strutt, Life of J.J. Thomson, 8, and J.J. Thomson, Recollections, 42–43.
Strutt, Life of J.J. Thomson, 9.
Crowther, The Cavendish Laboratory, 102.
For his early life, see J.J. Thomson, Recollections, chapter 1.
Ibid, 2.
Ibid., 12–30.
Ibid., 30.
J.J. Thomson, “Experiments on Contact Electricity between Non-Conductors,” Proc. Roy. Soc. 25 (1876): 169–171.
John L. Heilbron, “Thomson, Joseph John,” DSB, 13, 362.
For more about Thomson’s undergraduate study, see J.J. Thomson, Recollections, chapter 2.
CUL MSS ADD 7654, NB 18–32.
J.J. Thomson, “On the Resolution of the Product of Two Sums of Eight Squares into the Sum of Eight Squares,” Messenger of Mathematics 7 (1877): 73–74; “An Extension of Arbogast’s Method of Derivations,” Messenger of Mathematics 7 (1878): 142–143; “Vortex Motion in a Viscous Incompressible Fluid,” Messenger of Mathematics 8 (1879): 174–175.
J.J. Thomson, Recollections, 63.
He published two papers on elliptic functions and integration in Messenger of Mathematics.
J.J. Thomson, “On Some Applications of Dynamical Principles to Physical Phenomena,” Phil. Trans. 176 (1885): 307–342; “Some Applications of Dynamical Principles to Physical Phenomena-part Il,” Phil. Trans. 178 (1887): 471–526; Applications of Dynamics to Physics and Chemistry ( London: MacMillan, 1888 ).
J.J. Thomson, “On the Vibrations of a Vortex Ring and the Actions of Two Vortex Rings upon each other,” Proc. Roy. Soc. 33 (1881): 145–147; “On the Vibration of a Vortex Ring, and the Action upon each other of Two Vortices in a Perfect Fluid,” Phil. Trans. 173 (1882): 493–521.
Heilbron DSB 13 364.
J.J. Thomson, “On Maxwell’s Theory of Light,” Phil. Mag. 9 (1880): 284–291on 284.
J.J. Thomson, “On the Electric and Magnetic Effects produced by the Motion of Electrified Bodies,” Phil. Mag. 11 (1881): 229–249. For more about this work, see also David R. Topper, J.J. Thomson and Maxwell ‘s Electromagnetic Theory, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation (Cleveland: Case Western Reserve University, 1970), chapter v.
J.J. Thomson, “On Some Electromagnetic Experiments with Open Circuits,” Phil. Mag. 12 (1881): 4960. He acknowledged that “the above experiments were made in the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge.”
J.J. Thomson, “On the Dimensions of a Magnetic Pole in the Electrostatic System of Units,” Phil. Mag. 13 (1882): 427–429, and same title, Phil. Mag. 14 (1882): 225–226. The latter was a reply to criticism by Clausius.
J.J. Thomson, “On the Determination of the Number of Electrostatic Units in the Electromagnetic Unit of Electricity,” Phil. Trans. 174 (1883): 707–721.
J.J. Thomson, “On Electrical Oscillations and the Effects produced by the Motion of an Electrified Sphere,” Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society 15 (1884): 197–218.
J.J. Thomson, “On a Theory of the Electric Discharge in Gases,” Phil. Mag. 15 (1883): 427–434 on 427.
J.J. Thomson, “On the Chemical Combination of Gases,” Phil. Mag. 18 (1884): 233–267.
J.J. Thomson, Applications of Dynamics to Physics and Chemistry (London: MacMillan, 1888), v.
Ibid.
These are the titles of chapters 11 to 17.
J.J. Thomson, Notes on Recent Researches in Electricity and Magnetism (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1893), v.
Maxwell, Treatise, vol. 1, xv-xvi.
Notes on Recent Researches, vi.
J.J. Thomson, Notes on Recent Researches, 53.
CUL MSS ADD 7654 H49 (19 May 1893 ): H. Hertz to J.J.
CUL MSS ADD 7654 Z4 (22 March 1912 ): P. Zeeman to J.J.
Beginning in 1885, J. J. lectured regularly on electricity and magnetism. He introduced his lecture, “Mathematics for Students of Physics,” in the Michaelmas term of 1888.
J.J. Thomson, Elements of the Mathematical Theory of Electricity and Magnetism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1895), v-vi.
CUL MSS ADD 7654 H49 (19 May 1893 ): H. Hertz to J.J.
J.J. Thomson, “Report on Electrical Theories,” B. A. Report (1885): 97–155; “Note on the Rotation of the Plane of Polarization of Light by a Moving Medium,” Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc. 5 (1885): 250–254; “Electrical Oscillations on Cylindrical Conductors,” Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society 17 (1886): 310–328; “Electrical Oscillations on Cylindrical Conductors,” Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society 19 (1888): 520–549; -and H. F. Newall, “Experiments on the Magnetization of Iron Rods, especially on the Effect of Narrow Crevasses at Right Angles to their Length,” Proc. Comb. Phil.Soc. 6 (1887): 84–90; —and H. F. Newall, “On the Rate at which Electricity leaks through Liquids which are Bad Conductors of Electricity,” Proc. Roy. Soc. 42 (1887): 410–429; “The Resistance of Electrolytes to the Passage of very rapidly alternating Currents, with some Investigations on the Times of Vibrations of Electrical Systems,” Proc. Roy. Soc. 45 (1889): 269–290; “Note on the Effect produced by Conductors in the Neighborhood of a Wire on the Rate of Propagation of Electrical Disturbances along it, with a Determination of this Rate,” Proc. Roy. Soc. 46 (1889): 1–13; “The Application of the Theory of the Transmission of Alternating Currents along a Wire to the Telephone,” Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc. 6 (1889): 321–325; “Specific Inductive Capacity of Dielectrics when acted on by very rapidly alternating Electric Forces,” Proc. Roy. Soc. 46 (1889): 292–295; “On the Magnetic Effects produced by Motion in the Electric Field,” Phil.Mag. 28 (1889): 1–14; “On the Illustration of the Properties of the Electrical Field by Means of Tubes of Electrostatic Induction,” Phil. Mag. 31 (1891): 149–171; “On the Absorption of Energy by the Secondary of a Transformer,” Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc. 7 (1891): 249; “On the Effect of Electrification and Chemical Action on a Steam-jet, and of Water Vapour on the Discharge of Electricity through Gases,” Phil. Mag. 36 (1893): 313–327; “The Electrolysis of Steam,” Proc. Roy. Soc. 53 (1893): 90–110; “On the Electricity of Drop,” Phil. Mag. 37 (1894): 341–358.
J.J. Thomson and G. F. C. Searle, “A Determination of `v’, the Ratio of the Electromagnetic Unit of Electricity to the Electrostatic Unit,” Phil. Trans. 181 (1890): 583–621.
A History of the Cavendish Laboratory, 135.
Ibid., 87. J.J. recalled that when he repeated the experiment during an undergraduate lecture in 1888, the student’s “enthusiasm spread to all the workers in the Laboratory, and soon experiments on electric waves were going on all over the building.”
J.J. Thomson and R. Threlfall, “On an Effect produced by the Passage of an Electric Discharge through Pure Nitrogen,” Proc. Roy. Soc. 40 (1886): 329–340; J.J. Thomson, “On the Dissociation of Some Gases by the Electric Discharge,” (Bakerian Lecture) Proc. Roy. Soc. 42 (1887): 343–345; “On the Effect of Pressure and Temperature on the Electric Strength of Gases,” Proc. Comb. Phil. Soc. 6 (1889): 325–329; “On the Passage of Electricity through Hot Gases,” Phil. Mag. 29 (1890): 358–366 and 441–449.
J.J. Thomson, “On the Discharge of Electricity through Exhausted Tubes without Electrodes,” Phil. Mag. 32 (1891): 321–336 and 445–464; “On the Electric Discharge through Rarefied Gases without Electrodes,” Proc. Comb. Phil. Soc. 7 (1891): 131; “Some Experiments on Electric Discharge,” Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc. 7 (1892): 314; “On the Pressure at which the Electric Strength of a Gas is a Minimum,” Proc. Comb. Phil. Soc. 7 (1892): 330; “On the Rate of Propagation of the Luminous Discharge of Electricity through a Rarefied Gas,” Proc. Roy. Soc. 49 (1891): 84–100; “On the Velocity of the Cathode Rays,” Phil. Mag. 38 (1894): 358–365.
J.J. Thomson, “Some Experiments on the Electric Discharge in a Uniform Electric Field, with some Theoretical Considerations about the Passage of Electricity through Gases,” Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc. 5 (1886): 391–409.
J.J. Thomson, “Electric Discharge through Gases,” Not. Proc. Roy. Inst. 14 (1894): 239–247 on 239.
Isobel Falconer, “Corpuscles, Electrons and Cathode Rays: J.J. Thomson and the `Discovery of the Electron,”’ BJHS 20 (1987): 241–276 on 252–253. The author describes J.J. not only as an “experimentalist” but also as a serious theoretician whose work “seems to have been motivated by a quest for unity in science.”
In addition, Glazebrook and Shaw had earnings from teaching several courses in the colleges and the Cavendish Laboratory.
The salary attached to the professorship of experimental physics had been £850 since 1885, but by regulation this sum was to be reduced to £650 “if the Professor hold a Headship or Fellowship” [see The Historical Register of the University of Cambridge to 1910, 103].
Strutt, life of J.J. Thomson, 34–35.
J.J. Thomson, Recollections, 98. Both Glazebrook and Shaw were re-appointed by J.J. (CUR (24 March 1885 ): 546 ).
London Imperial College, MSS Rayleigh ( 28 December 1884 ): Glazebrook to Rayleigh. Brackets added.
CUL MSS, vol. 39.33, 67. Brackets added. The report was slightly amended and published in the CUR (22 March 1887 ): 567.
CUR (31 May 1887): 784; (14 June 1887): 850; (4 October 1887): 1; (18 October 1887): 65. The tenure of the post was five years.
CUR (27 January 1891): 463.
CUR (25 November 1890): 247.
CUR (10 February 1891): 483 and 503.
CUR (13 June 1883): 879.
In his statement in support of establishment of another demonstratorship, J.J. expressed his appreciation for the assistant demonstrators’ efforts, noting that “[in some cases] the Assistant Demonstrators... have proved so efficient that they are now doing work of as much responsibility and importance as is done by those who hold the title of University Demonstrator.” Sec CUR (25 November 1890): 247.
J.J. Thomson, Recollections, 98.
CUR (11 May 1886): 593; (8 June 1886): 737–743. Stuart’s request was included in the “Regulations for the management of the Mechanical Workshop.”
CUR (3 June 1896): 885.
Starting in 1886, the course was taught by some combination of two from the trio of J.J., Glazebrook, and Shaw.
A History of the Cavendish Laboratory, 257. See also Strutt, Life of J.J. Thomson, 42–43.
CUR (4 June 1888): 759.
Ibid., viii-ix.
F. Kohlrausch, An Introduction to Physical Measurements with Appendices on Absolute Electrical Measurement, etc. translated from the second German edition by T. H. Waller and H. R. Proctor (London: J and A Churchill, 1873); Edward C. Pickering, Elements of Physical Manipulation 2 vols. (New York: Hurd and Houghton, 1873 (part I), 1876 (part II)). Glazebrook remembered that these two books were “almost all that were available” (A History of the Cavendish Laboratory, 44).
C.V. Burton “Practical Physics (book review),” Nature 31 (1885): 477–478.
Glazebrook and Shaw, Practical Physics, x-xi. Brackets added.
Glazebrook and Shaw, Practical Physics, fourth revised edition (London: Longmans, Greens and Co., 1893). The alterations and additions to the fourth edition in 1893 included: geometrical representation of rates of variation, the enlargement of the chapter on magnetism, and new chapters on measurement of velocity and acceleration and electromagnetic induction. The authors thanked Newall and Searle for their contributions to the addition of new sections.
W N. Shaw, Practical Work at the Cavendish Laboratory: Heat ( Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1886 ).
The book contained twelve of the twenty-three experiments originally intended for the syllabus of advanced demonstrations in heat in 1884 at the Cavendish. For a complete list of the experiments, see Ibid., 5–6.
R. T. Glazebrook, Mechanics: An Elementary Text-Book, Theoretical and Practical (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1895), ix.
CUR (17 March 1893): 75.
Beginning in 1893, professors were required to annually report their expenditures and the fees they received. These reports were published in the CUR.
CUR (13 March 1888): 507; (24 February 1891): 558–559, 562; (28 November 1893): 235–236; (5 December 1893): 267; (23 January 1894): 377.
CUL MSS ADD 7654 T30 (28 October 1893 ): J.J. to Threlfall.
CUR (6 November 1894): 164–165 on 164.
CUR (11 January 1887): 332–333.
CUR (20 May 1890): 730–732.
CUR (3 January 1890): 814.
CUR (17 June 1890): 977; (5 May 1891): 772.
A History of the Cavendish Laboratory, 82.
Strutt, Life ofJ.J. Thomson, 23.
J.J. Thomson, “Mr. E. Everett,” Nature 132 (1933): 774.
Strutt, Life of J.J. Thomson, 25.
G. P. Thomson, “J.J. Thomson,” Nature 178 (1956): 1319. J.J. told his son that the trouble with experiments was “you had infinite labour in getting the apparatus to work, and when it did work the experiment was over too quickly.”
CUR (7 June 1886): 704; (26 May 1887): 749; (4 June 1888): 759; (29 May 1889): 785; (5 June 1890): 873; (8 June 1893): 971.
J.J. Thomson, “On the Rate of Propagation of the Luminous Discharge of Electricity through a Rarefied Gas,” Proc. Roy. Soc. 49 (1891): 84–100 on 86.
Jolly’s air thermometer was supplied by Strollnreuther und Sohn in Munich. See Shaw, Heat, 7
Z Peace and Cassie, however, each wrote one research paper.
In Crowther, The Cavendish Laboratory, 91.
Paula Gould, “Women and the Culture of University Physics in Late Nineteenth-Century Cambridge,” BJHS 30 (1997): 127–149.
The Historical Register of the University of Cambridge to 1910, 558. In those days, the ranks of women candidates for the MT and NST were published separately and compared to men’s ranks, for example: “equal to 21 [of the men’s rank],” or “between 27 and 28.”
J. A. Ewing and H. G. Klaassen, “Magnetic Qualities of Iron,” Phil. Trans. 184 (1894): 985–1039. Interestingly, in this paper the authors employed the word “we” instead of either “Professor Ewing” or “Miss Klaassen.” Compare this use with that in Rayleigh and Sidgwick’s paper of the early 1880s, when the authors used their individual names instead of the pronoun “we.”
Miss Klaassen lectured on elementary physics beginning in the Lent term of 1893 (CUR (17 January 1893): 384). For more information about Miss Fawcett’s lectures, see CUR (16 January 1894): 367.
See collected obituaries for J.J. in Nature 146 (1940): 351–357.
Record of the Science Research Scholars of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, 18911929 (London, 1930), preface. The Scholarship was founded by a fund raised by the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851. The scholarship ordinarily was tenable for two years (£150 per year) and could be renewed for a third year in special cases. The candidate was required to be a British subject who had been “a bona-fide student of Science for a term of three years in a University or College in which special attention [was] given to scientific study.”
J. R. Erskine-Murray (1894–96) and J. A. McClelland (1894–95) came to Cambridge (therefore to the Cavendish Laboratory) in 1895.
See Isobel Falconer, “J.J. Thomson and `Cavendish Physics,”’ in Frank A. J. L. James (ed.), The Development of the Laboratory (London: MacMillan Press, 1989), 104–117 on 116. Falconer argued that among the “FRSs educated under Thomson,” Chree, Threlfall, Callendar, Newall, and Searle were “those little influenced” whereas Schott and Whetham were “those strongly influenced.” I do not entirely agree with this view. Nevertheless, it does support the conclusion that J.J. lacked authority among Cavendish researchers of his own age.
Strutt, Life ofJ.J Thomson, 40. See also A History of the Cavendish Laboratory, 90.
Strutt, Life of J.J. Thomson, 53–54. During tea, no limitation was placed on subjects for conversation, which included politics, fiction, sports, and matters of general scientific interest.
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Kim, DW. (2002). J.J. Thomson’s First Ten Years at the Cavendish, 1885–1894. In: Leadership and Creativity. Archimedes, vol 5. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2055-7_3
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