Everyone at that time imagined the atom as a "plum pudding." That is ... He realized that Rutherford's model wasn't quite right. By all rules of classical physics, it should be very unstable.

The 'plum pudding' model of the atom was proposed by JJ Thomson, who had also discovered the electron. The 'plum pudding' model of the atom was proposed by JJ Thomson, who had also discovered the ...