Sir Joseph John Thomson was born in 1856 in England. Many in his life called him "J.J." for short, or as a nickname. He is known as one of the most brilliant chemists of his time. What gave him most of his fame in the scientific world was his winning of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1906. He won this prize for the discover of the electron. J.J. Thomson was also knighted in 1908, which is one of the most formidable things that can happen for an Englishman. For most of his life he was attending, teaching, or performing studies at Trinity College, Cambridge. This is where he died in 1940.