Joseph Thomson and Ernest Rutherford. View of Joseph Thomson (1856-1946, left) talking to Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937). These men laid the foundations for the study of atomic nuclei and radiation. Thomson was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1906 for his work on electrical conduction through gases, which led to his discovery of the electron. He was replaced as Cavendish Professor for Experimental Physics at Cambridge University, England, by Ernest Rutherford, who won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1908 for his work on the effects of radiation on atomic nuclei. The modern model of the atom is largely based on their work.