Person

Bragg, William Henry (1862 - 1942)

FRS KBE

Born
2 July 1862
Westward near Wigton, Cumberland, England
Died
12 March 1942
London, United Kingdom
Occupation
Physicist

Summary

Sir William Henry Bragg was Professor of Physics and Mathematics, University of Adelaide 1886-1909, Professor at the University of Leeds 1909-1915, and University College, London 1915-1923, and Director of the Royal Institution to 1942. In 1915 he shared the Nobel Prize for physics with his son, William Lawrence Bragg.

Details

Chronology

1885
Education - BA, Trinity College, University of Cambridge
1886 - 1909
Career position - Professor of Physics and Mathematics, University of Adelaide
1892
Career position - President, Section A (Astronomy, Mathematics and Physcis), Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science
1904
Career position - President, Section A (Astronomy, Mathematics, Physcis and Mechanics), Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science
1906 - 1942
Award - Fellow, Royal Society, London
1907 - 1909
Career position - President, Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science
1909 - 1915
Career position - Cavendish Chair of Physics, University of Leeds, United Kingdom
1915
Award - Nobel Prize for Physics (jointly with William L. Bragg)
1915 - 1923
Career position - Quain Professor of Physics, University College, London
1916
Award - Rumford Medal, Royal Society, London
1917
Award - Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)
1920
Award - Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE)
1923 - 1942
Career position - Fullerian Professor of Chemistry, Royal Institution, London
1930
Award - Copley Medal, Royal Society, London
1931
Award - Order of Merit
1935 - 1940
Career position - President, Royal Society, London
1939 - 1942
Award - International Member, National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A.

Related Corporate Bodies

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

  • John Percival Vissing Madsen - Records, 1906 - 1969, MS 072; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

Barr Smith Library, Special Collections, The University of Adelaide

  • William H. Bragg and William L. (Lawrence) Bragg - Research Records of John Jenkin, MSS 0144; Barr Smith Library, Special Collections, The University of Adelaide. Details

Published resources

Books

  • Bragg, William [H.], Concerning the nature of things (London: G. Bell and Sons, 1927), 232 pp. Details
  • Grant, Kerr, The Life and Work of Sir William Bragg (Brisbane: University of Queensland Press, 1952). Details
  • Hunter, Graeme K., Light is a Messenger: the Life and Science of William Lawrence Bragg (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 301 pp. Details
  • Jenkin, John, The Bragg Family in Adelaide: a Pictorial Celebration (Adelaide: University of Adelaide, 1986). Details
  • Jenkin, John, William and Lawrence Bragg: the Most Extraordinary Collaboration in Science (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), 458 pp. Details
  • South Australian Museum, Bragg About Adelaide: Two Men, a Science Revolution, a Nobel Prize, it all Started Here (Adelaide: South Australian Museum, 2005), 35 pp. Details

Book Sections

  • Beale, R, 'William and Lawrence Bragg' in Australia's Nobel Laureates - Adventures in Innovation (Sydney: ABIE Australian Business and Investment Explorer, 2004), pp. 24-33. Details
  • Debs, Talal, 'Sir William Henry Bragg, 1862-1942' in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004). Details

Conference Proceedings

  • Report of the fifth meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science edited by Tate, Ralph; Rennie, E. H.; Bragg, W. H. (Adelaide: Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, 1894), i-xxxi, 1-691 pp, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/52737. Details

Journal Articles

  • Cooper, B. J., 'Bragg, Mawson and Brown, and the Early Uranium Discoveries in South Australia', Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, 133 (2009), 199-218 . Details
  • Grant, Kerr, 'Obituary: Sir William Henry Bragg, OM, FRS, KBE', Australian Journal of Science, 4 (5) (1942), 152-153. Details
  • Home, R. W., 'W.H. Bragg and J.P.V. Madsen: Collaboration and Correspondence, 1905-1911', Historical Records of Australian Science, 5 (2) (1981), 1-29. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9810520001. Details
  • Home, R. W., 'The Problem of Intellectual Isolation in Scientific Life: W.H. Bragg and the Australian Scientific Community, 1886-1909', Historical Records of Australian Science, 6 (1) (1984), 19-30. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9840610019. Details
  • Jenkin, John, 'William Henry Bragg, 1862-1942: Man and Scientist, by G.M. Caroe', Australian Physicist, 20 (1983), 179-180. Details
  • Jenkin, John, 'William Bragg in Adelaide: and Finally Golf', Australian Physicist, 23 (1986), 138-140. Details
  • Jenkin, John, 'The 1901 Royal Visit to Adelaide: an Account by William and Gwendoline Bragg', Journal of the Historical Society of South Australia, 14 (1986), 19-34. Details
  • Jenkin, John, 'W. H. Bragg and the Public Image of Science in Australia', Search, 18 (1) (1987), 34-37. Details
  • Jenkin, John, 'A Unique Partnership: William and Lawrence Bragg and the 1915 Nobel Prize in Physics', Minerva, 39 (2001), 373-392. Details
  • Jenkin, John, 'William Henry Bragg in Adelaide: Beginning Research at a Colonial Locality', Isis, 95 (1) (2004), 58-90. Details
  • Jenkin, John, 'Braggs' law or Bragg's law?', Australian Physicist, 49 (2012), 72.9. Details
  • Jenkin, John G., 'Letter to the Editor About William Bragg and Tennis at Cambridge', Australian Physicist, 18 (7) (1981), 131. Details
  • Jenkin, John G., 'William Bragg in Adelaide; Tennis Too!', Australian Physicist, 18 (4) (1981), 69-70. Details
  • Jenkin, John G., 'The Appointment of W.H. Bragg, FRS, to the University of Adelaide', Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, 40 (1) (1985), 75-79. Details
  • Mills, Allan, 'The Early Years of William Bragg', Scientific Instrument Society Bulletin (2010), 8-9. Details
  • Patterson, John and George, Robert, 'William Henry Bragg, man and scientist: Nobel laureate and first Professor of Physics, University of Adelaide 1886 to 1909', Australian Physics, 52 (6) (2015), 192-6. Details
  • Thomas, John Meurig, 'Picking winners: W. H. and W. L. Bragg at the Royal Institution', Notes and Records of the Royal Society, 65 (2011), 163-82. Details
  • Tomlin, S. G., 'William Henry Bragg 1862-1942', Australian Physicist, 13 (6) (1976), 97-99. Details

Resources

Resource Sections

Reviews

  • Jenkin, John, 'William Henry Bragg 1862-1942: man and scientist'
    Jenkin, John, Historical Records of Australian Science, 5 (2), (1981), 123-124. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9810520123. Details
  • Jenkin, John, William and Lawrence Bragg: the Most Extraordinary Collaboration in Science (2007)
    Macleod, Roy, Historical Records of Australian Science, 20 (1), (2009), 131-133, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR09005. Details
  • Jenkin, John, William and Lawrence Bragg: the Most Extraordinary Collaboration in Science (2007)
    Wheaton, Bruce R., Isis, 103, (2012), 605-6. Details

See also

McCarthy, G.J.

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