Corpuscle is J.J. Thomson's term for a subatomic particle similar to the electron. He proposed this term in a paper called 'On the Number of Corpuscles in an Atom', published in Philosophical Magazine in June 1906. Sir Joseph John Thomson, OM, PRS (December 18, 1856 – August 30, 1940) often known as J. J. Thomson, was an English physicist, the discoverer of the electron. ... Properties The electron is a fundamental subatomic particle which carries a negative electric charge. ...