quality:corruption
Education and personal life

Joseph John Thomson was born on 18 December 1856 in Cheetham Hill, Manchester, Lancashire, England. His mother, Emma Swindells, came from a local textile family. His father, Joseph James Thomson, ran an antiquarian bookshop founded by Thomson's great-grandfather. He had a brother, Frederick Vernon Thomson, who was two years younger than he was. J. J. Thomson was a reserved yet devout Anglican.

His early education was in small private schools where he demonstrated outstanding talent and interest in science. In 1870, he was admitted to Owens College in Manchester (now University of Manchester) at the unusually young age of 14 and came under the influence of Balfour Stewart, Professor of Physics, who initiated Thomson into physical research. Thomson began experimenting with contact electrification and soon published his first scientific paper. His parents planned to enroll him as an apprentice engineer to Sharp, Stewart & Co, a locomotive manufacturer, but these plans were cut short when his father died in 1873.

He moved on to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1876. In 1880, he obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics (Second Wrangler in the Tripos and 2nd Smith's Prize). He applied for and became a Fellow of Trinity College in 1881. He received his Master of Arts degree (with Adams Prize) in 1883.