The Electron
E331183
"The Electron" is a landmark early 20th-century scientific work by Robert A. Millikan that details his experimental determination of the electron’s charge and explores the fundamental nature of this subatomic particle.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| The Electron canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T3150757 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Electron Context triple: [Robert A. Millikan, notableWork, The Electron]
-
A.
Electryon
Electryon is a king of Mycenae in Greek mythology, known primarily as the grandfather of the hero Heracles.
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B.
Fermi
Fermi is a renowned Italian surname most famously associated with physicist Enrico Fermi, a pioneer of nuclear physics and Nobel Prize laureate.
-
C.
Electron Pump
Electron Pump is a fictional advanced energy-transfer device in Isaac Asimov’s novel "The Gods Themselves," enabling the exchange of matter and energy between parallel universes with catastrophic side effects.
-
D.
Poros
Poros is a small Greek island in the Saronic Gulf known for its pine-covered hills, neoclassical town, and popularity as a nearby getaway from Athens.
-
E.
electron neutrino
The electron neutrino is a nearly massless, electrically neutral elementary particle associated with the electron, produced in weak nuclear processes such as beta decay and nuclear fusion in stars.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Electron Target entity description: "The Electron" is a landmark early 20th-century scientific work by Robert A. Millikan that details his experimental determination of the electron’s charge and explores the fundamental nature of this subatomic particle.
-
A.
Electryon
Electryon is a king of Mycenae in Greek mythology, known primarily as the grandfather of the hero Heracles.
-
B.
Fermi
Fermi is a renowned Italian surname most famously associated with physicist Enrico Fermi, a pioneer of nuclear physics and Nobel Prize laureate.
-
C.
Electron Pump
Electron Pump is a fictional advanced energy-transfer device in Isaac Asimov’s novel "The Gods Themselves," enabling the exchange of matter and energy between parallel universes with catastrophic side effects.
-
D.
Poros
Poros is a small Greek island in the Saronic Gulf known for its pine-covered hills, neoclassical town, and popularity as a nearby getaway from Athens.
-
E.
electron neutrino
The electron neutrino is a nearly massless, electrically neutral elementary particle associated with the electron, produced in weak nuclear processes such as beta decay and nuclear fusion in stars.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (47)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
nonfiction book
ⓘ
physics book ⓘ scientific book ⓘ |
| aimsTo |
demonstrate the fundamental nature of the electron
ⓘ
establish the value of the elementary charge through experiment ⓘ |
| associatedWith |
California Institute of Technology
ⓘ
University of Chicago ⓘ |
| author | Robert A. Millikan ⓘ |
| contribution |
helped establish the accepted value of the electron charge
ⓘ
supported the concept of discrete electric charge ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin | United States of America ⓘ |
| describes |
Millikan oil-drop experiment
ⓘ
linked to:
oil-drop experiment
analysis of experimental uncertainties ⓘ apparatus for oil-drop experiments ⓘ atomic structure ⓘ experimental determination of the electron charge ⓘ nature of the electron as a fundamental particle ⓘ photoelectric effect ⓘ |
| documents |
Millikan’s experimental techniques
ⓘ
data supporting the quantization of electric charge ⓘ |
| fieldOfWork |
atomic physics
ⓘ
electromagnetism ⓘ physics ⓘ subatomic physics ⓘ |
| focusesOn |
precision measurement of physical constants
ⓘ
quantitative experimental methods ⓘ |
| genre | scientific monograph ⓘ |
| hasFormat | print ⓘ |
| hasPerspective |
empirical
ⓘ
quantitative ⓘ |
| historicalSignificance |
important in the development of modern atomic theory
ⓘ
landmark work in early 20th-century physics ⓘ |
| influencedBy |
J. J. Thomson’s discovery of the electron
ⓘ
early 20th-century atomic theory ⓘ |
| intendedAudience |
advanced students of physics
ⓘ
scientists ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| mainSubject |
electron
ⓘ
elementary charge ⓘ experimental physics ⓘ |
| publicationPeriod | early 20th century ⓘ |
| timePeriodDescribed | early development of electron theory ⓘ |
| topic |
electrical charge
ⓘ
experimental methods in physics ⓘ measurement of fundamental constants ⓘ subatomic particles ⓘ |
| workExampleOf | application of precise laboratory techniques ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: The Electron Description of subject: "The Electron" is a landmark early 20th-century scientific work by Robert A. Millikan that details his experimental determination of the electron’s charge and explores the fundamental nature of this subatomic particle.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.