Cathode ray

A cathode ray is a stream of electrons that are seen in vacuum tubes. It is called a "cathode ray" because the electrons are being emitted from the negative charged element in the vacuum tube called the cathode. A cathode ray tube aims the ray at a point on its screen. They were first observed in 1869 by German physicist Johann Hittorf, and were named in 1876 by Eugen Goldstein "Kathodenstrahlen", or cathode rays.
Electrons were discovered as the constituents of cathode rays in 1897 by British physicist J. J. Thomson. He showed the rays were composed of a previously unknown negatively charged particle, which was later called the "electron". Cathode ray tubes (CRTs) use a focused beam of electrons deflected by electric or magnetic fields to create the image in a classic television set.
Some properties of cathode rays: