George Johnstone Stoney (February 15, 1826 – July 5, 1911) was an Irish physicist. In 1891, he coined the word electron. Worked at the National University of Ireland, Galway. February 15 is the 46th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1826 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... July 5 is the 186th day of the year (187th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 179 days remaining. ... 1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar). ... A physicist is a scientist trained in physics. ... 1891 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Properties The electron is a fundamental subatomic particle which carries a negative electric charge. ... The National University of Ireland, Galway (NUI, Galway) (Irish: Ollscoil na hÉireann, Gaillimh) can trace its existence to 1845 as Queens College, Galway and was known until recently as University College, Galway (UCG) and is located in Galway, Ireland. ...

Stoney was born on 15 February 1826 at Oak Park, near Birr, County Offaly, in the Irish midlands. He attended Trinity College, Dublin, graduating with a B.A. in 1848 and an M.A. in 1852. In 1848 he became an assistant to the Earl of Rosse at Birr Castle, County Offaly, where Rosse had built and operated the 'Leviathan', the world's largest telescope in its day. In 1852, Stoney became Professor of Natural Philosophy at Queen's College Galway (now the National University of Ireland, Galway). In 1857, he moved to Dublin as Secretary of the Queen's University; he subsequently became superintendent of Civil Service Examinations in Ireland, a post he held until his retirement in 1893. In this year, he took up residence in London. Birr (Biorra in Irish) is a town in the Midlands county of Offaly in the Republic of Ireland. ... County Offaly (Irish: Uíbh Fhailí) is a county in Leinster, Ireland, bordered by seven other counties: Galway, Roscommon, Westmeath, Meath, Kildare, Laois, and Tipperary. ... The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin or more commonly Trinity College, Dublin was founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I, and is the only constituent college of the University of Dublin, Irelands oldest university. ... 1848 is a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1852 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... The National University of Ireland, Galway (NUI, Galway) can trace its existence to 1845 as Queens College, Galway and was known until recently as University College, Galway (UCG) and is located in Galway, Ireland. ... The National University of Ireland, Galway (NUI, Galway) (Irish: Ollscoil na hÉireann, Gaillimh) can trace its existence to 1845 as Queens College, Galway and was known until recently as University College, Galway (UCG) and is located in Galway, Ireland. ... 1857 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... 1893 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Part of the London skyline viewed from the South Bank London is the most populous city in the European Union, with an estimated population on 1 January 2005 of 7. ...

Stoney published seventy-five scientific papers in a variety of journals, making significant contributions to cosmic physics and to the theory of gases. In 1891, he proposed the term 'electron' to describe the fundamental unit of electrical charge, and his contributions to research in this area laid the foundations for the eventual discovery of the particle by J.J. Thomson in 1905. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1861, and served as Vice-President of the Society for 1898-9. Properties The electron is a fundamental subatomic particle which carries a negative electric charge. ... Sir Joseph John Thomson, OM , FRS (December 18, 1756 – August 30, 1940) often known as J. J. Thomson, was an English physicist, the discoverer of the electron. ... 1905 (MCMV) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... The premises of the Royal Society in London. ... 1861 is a common year starting on Tuesday. ...

Stoney died on 5 July 1911 at his home in Notting Hill, London. After cremation, his ashes were buried in Dundrum, County Dublin. Notting Hill is a district of London located to the west of the centre and close to the north-western corner of Hyde Park. ... Part of the London skyline viewed from the South Bank London is the most populous city in the European Union, with an estimated population on 1 January 2005 of 7. ... Dundrum is the name of several towns in Ireland: Dundrum in County Down, Northern Ireland Dundrum in Dublin city, Republic of Ireland Dundrum in County Tipperary, Republic of Ireland This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Dublin (Irish Baile Átha Cliath) is the area that contains the City of Dublin, the capital and largest city of the Republic of Ireland; and the counties of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin. ...

Craters on Mars and the Moon are named in his honour. This article is about impact craters, also known as meteor craters. ... Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the solar system, named after the Roman god of war (the counterpart of the Greek Ares), on account of its blood red color as viewed in the night sky. ... Crust composition Oxygen 43% Silicon 21% Aluminium 10% Calcium 9% Iron 9% Magnesium 5% Titanium 2% Nickel 0. ...

Stoney was distantly related to Alan Turing, and influenced Turing's parents to tolerate his scientific proclivities. Alan Turing is often considered the father of modern computer science. ...

Publications

• Stoney, George Johnstone, "On a Supposed Proof of a Theorem in Wave-motion". Philosophical Magazine, 5(43), pp. 368-373 (1897).

Literature

• Alex Keller: The Infancy of Atomic Physics. Hercules in His Cradle, Oxford University 1983. ISBN 0-19-853904-5

External link

• Of the "Electron", or Atom of Electricity - by G. J. Stoney, Philosophical Magazine, Series 5, Volume 38, p. 418-420, October 1894

The Stoney Scale

Contemporary physics has settled on the Planck scale as the most suitable scale for a unified theory. The Planck scale was however anticipated by George Stoney [Stoney G. On The Physical Units of Nature, Phil.Mag.11,381-391,1881]

The Stoney mass m_St expressed in contemporary terms:

where α is the fine structure constant and m_Pl is the Planck mass.

Like the Planck scale, the Stoney scale functions as a symmetrical link between microcosmic and macrocosmic processes. Thus for example whereas the Planck length is the mean square root of the crossedCompton wavelength and the gravitational radius of any mass, the Stoney length is the mean square root of the electromagnetic radius and the gravitational radius of any mass: In physics, Planck units are physical units of measurement originally proposed by Max Planck. ... The Planck length is the natural unit of length, denoted by . ... The Compton wavelength of a particle is given by , where is the Planck constant, is the particles mass and is the speed of light. ... The Schwarzschild radius or gravitational radius is a characteristic radius associated with every mass. ...

According to contemporary convention, Planck scale is the scale of the vacuum, below which space and time do not retain any physical significance. This prescription mandates a general neglect of the Stoney scale within the scientific community. Previous to this mandate, Hermann Weyl made a notable attempt to construct a unified theory by associating a gravitational unit of charge with the Stoney length. Weyl's theory led to significant mathematical innovations but his theory is generally thought to lack physical significance [O'Raifeartaigh L. The Dawning of Gauge Theory, Princeton Uni Press, 1997][Gorelik G. 'Herman Weyl and Large Numbers in Relativistic Cosmology', Einstein Studies in Russia, Ed Balashov Y. and Vizgin V., Boston (Birkhaeuser)2002]. For other uses, see vacuum cleaner and Vacuum (musical group). ... Hermann Weyl Hermann Weyl (November 9, 1885 - December 8, 1955) was a German mathematician. ...

See also Planck units In physics, Planck units are physical units of measurement originally proposed by Max Planck. ...