Electron and Nobel laureates

In 1906, Joseph John Thomson (December 18, 1856 – August 30, 1940) received the Nobel Prize. In his work he proved that the electron is a particle. And in 1937, his son, George Paget Thomson (May 3, 1892 – September 10, 1975) also received the Nobel Prize. But he proved that the electron is a wave.

The most amazing thing about this is that both of the scientists were right!

Like all elementary particles electrons have the properties of both particles and waves; they can collide with other particles and can diffract, i.e. bend waves around various obstacles like light. The wave properties of electrons are easier to observe experimentally than the properties of other particles such as neutrons and protons because electrons have a lower mass and therefore a longer de Broglie wavelength for equal energies.