- electron (n.)
- coined 1891 by Irish physicist George J. Stoney (1826-1911) from electric + -on, as in ion (q.v.). Electron microscope (1932) translates German Elektronenmikroskop.
- electronic (adj.)
- 1901, "pertaining to electrons;" see electron + -ic; 1930 as "pertaining to electronics." Related: Electronically.
- -tron
- word-forming element in compounds coined in physics, "having to do with electrons or subatomic particles," 1939, abstracted unetymologically from electron (Greek -tron was an instrumentive suffix).
- cyclotron (n.)
- 1935, from cyclo- + ending from electron.
- proton (n.)
- 1920 in physics, coined by English physicist Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937) from noun use of Greek proton, neuter of protos "first" (see proto-), on analogy of electron; supposedly because hydrogen was hypothesized as a constituent of all the elements. The word was used earlier in embryology (1893) as a translation of German anlage ("fundamental thing") based on Aristotle's phrase he prote ousia to proton.
- electronic mail (n.)
- 1977; see e-mail.
- electronics (n.)
- 1910, from electronic; also see -ics. The science of how electrons behave in vacuums, gas, semi-conductors, etc.
- Heisenberg
- 1932 in reference to German physicist Werner Heisenberg (1901-1976), pioneer of quantum mechanics. His "uncertainty principle" (deduced in 1927) is that an electron may have a determinate position, or a determinate velocity, but not both.
