Notable inventions created by Thomson during this period include an arc-lighting system, an automatically regulated three-coil dynamo, a magnetic lightning arrester, and a local power transformer.

[5] The historian Thomas P. Hughes writes that Thomson "displayed methodological characteristics in the workshop and the laboratory as [an] inventor and in the business world as [an] entrepreneur.

After being asked to become a director of GE, Thomson rejected the offer preferring continued research to management.

[8] In 1889, he was decorated by the French Government for his electrical inventions, being made Chevalier et Officier de la Légion d'honneur.

[3] He married Mary Louise Peck (born: June 1, 1856 in New Britain, Hartford County, Connecticut) on May 1, 1884.

[10] Thomson, overcoming his distaste for management, accepted this role during a critical period for the university when it could not otherwise find a president.