Friendship and Discovery

By Jaanu

The people you surround yourself with shape you a great deal. They might inspire you, give you new ideas, or mentor you. Whether you realize it or not, associations play an enormous role in what ideas you develop and even what topics are on your mind. One vivid example of this phenomenon could be witnessed during the golden age of atomic theory.

Atoms: building blocks of all matter and chemistry. Today, we know that all visible and invisible matter is composed, at its most fundamental level, of atoms – with dense neutron-proton nuclei surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons, which orbit in shells around the center.

Philosopher Democritus was the first on record to suggest that invisible tiny particles made up all matter, in 350 BC.

       It took hundreds of years for more philosophical and scientific progress towards understanding the atom to arise in the West… and it was not until the nineteenth century that an English schoolteacher proposed an expanded atomic theory. In 1803, John Dalton suggested not only that atoms were fundamental particles, but atoms of different elements were different. Lavoisier and Proust had already made claims about the conservation of matter and the constant mass ratio, but Dalton’s new atomic theory consolidated all of these ideas. This is where our web of connections begins. In 1839, Michael Faraday discovered that atomic structure had some certain connection to electricity, though he didn’t identify what that connection was. Faraday’s more famous contribution to science came in the discipline of physics. He was a brilliant experimental physicist who discovered the laws of induction.

       Faraday was great friends with Michael Thomson, pictured above, who was later known as Lord Kelvin. Faraday had been a hero of Thomson’s since his schooldays, and the two met at a scientific conference in 1845. Thomson is said to have influenced Faraday’s landmark experiments identifying light as a wave. He also introduced another friend, James Clerk Maxwell, to Faraday. The name Maxwell will surely sound familiar to any theoretical physicist. Maxwell was a Scottish mathematician who wrote laws which form the foundation of classical electromagnetism. Maxwell’s laws identified the connection between electricity, magnetism, and light, and he built off Faraday’s ideas to do so. These laws shaped the field of optics and influenced numerous other scientists, including Einstein. What might conversation have been like among these brilliant friends?

       Now, to turn back to inspiring connections between chemists. It was J.J. Thomson (no relation to William Thomson) who discovered that negatively charged electrons were part of the atom. Ernest Rutherford built on Thomson’s work to discover that positive charge in the atom is concentrated in a nucleus. J.J. Thomson’s son, G.P. Thomson, discovered that electrons could behave both as waves and particles (a core concept of quantum mechanics). Father and son are pictured here. All three men were awarded the Nobel Prize for their work. Henry Moseley discovered that all atoms of every unique element contain a precise number of protons – the concept of the atomic number. He was a student in Rutherford’s lab.

These scientists made leaps in human progress, by teaching us more about atoms, which are invisible to the human eye. Yet, what they teach us about collaboration, another invisible factor, is just as important. ⚛️