J.J. Thomson was a British physicist born in 1856. He demonstrated exceptional talent in science from a young age and attended Owens College at the unusually young age of 14. He later studied at Trinity College, where he obtained his BA and MA. Thomson discovered the electron through his experiments with cathode rays in 1897. He determined that cathode rays were over 1,000 times smaller than hydrogen atoms and had a universal negative charge. Thomson's discovery of the electron established it as a fundamental subatomic particle and proved that atoms are divisible. He proposed the "plum pudding" atomic model, where electrons were embedded in a sphere of positive charge like plums in a pudding. Thomson's work revolutionized the field of physics