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J. J. Thomson, born as Joseph John Thomson on December 18, 1856 in Cheetham Hill, was a physicist and mathematician from the United Kingdom. He is known for his numerous contributions to the fields of physics, including the discovery of the electron, isotopes, and the invention of the mass spectrometer. Thomson passed away on August 30, 1940, in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire.
Thomson studied at the University of Manchester, the University of Cambridge, and Trinity College, Cambridge. His doctoral advisor was John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh.
Throughout his illustrious career, Thomson supervised several doctoral students, including prominent scientists Niels Bohr, Ernest Rutherford, Francis William Aston, G. I. Taylor, and Charles Thomson Rees Wilson. Thomson was the father of George Paget Thomson, who also became a noted physicist.