Notes on Recent Researches in Electricity and Magnetism

Joseph John Thomson's Notes on Recent Researches (1893) documents the key experiments that led him to adopt the model of the atomic electric field. A central work in the history of physics, Recent Researches anticipates Thomson's eventual discovery of the electron, for which he received the Nobel Prize in 1906.

---

This 1893 publication is a central text in the work of the Nobel prize winning physicist Sir Joseph John Thomson (1858–1940). Intended as an extension of James Clerk Maxwell's Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism, it documents the important shift in Thomson's thinking towards the model of the atomic electric field, a theory that would eventually lead to his discovery of the electron. In Chapter 1, Thomson documents his experiments with Faraday tubes, using them to physically demonstrate a 'molecular theory of electricity'. Chapter 2 considers the discharge of electricity through gases, Chapter 3 theories of electrostatics, and Chapters 4–6 are primarily concerned with alternating currents. In addition to providing crucial insight into Thomson's evolving theory of the atom, Recent Researches underscores his commitment to experimental physics, which offers 'all the advantages in vividness which arise from concrete qualities rather than abstract symbols'.