Bragg, William Henry (1862 - 1942)

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 - Bachelor of Arts (BA), Trinity College, University of Cambridge

1886 - 1909

Career position - Professor of Physics and Mathematics, University of Adelaide

1888 -

Career event - Original [founding] member, Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science

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, The Royal Society, London (FRS)

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, The 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, The Royal Society, London

1931

Award - Order of Merit

1935 - 1940

Career position - President, The Royal Society, London

1939 - 1942

Award - International Member, National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A.

Related entries

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

• Anon, 'Crystal clear: William Henry Bragg and William Lawrence Bragg' in Australia's Nobel laureates vol. III: state of our innovation nation, 2021 and beyond (One Mandate Group, 2021), pp. 22-31. Details
• 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

• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/71473666. Details
• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q133747. Details
• 'Bragg, W H (1862-1942)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1300315. Details

Resource Sections

• 'Bragg, William Henry', in Physics in Australia to 1945, R.W. Home, with the assistance of Paula J. Needham, Australian Science Archives Project, June 1995, http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/physics/P000252p.htm. Details
• 'The Nobel Prize in Physics 1915 'for their services in the analysis of crystal structure by means of X-rays'', in Nobel e-Museum, 1996, http://www.nobel.se/physics/laureates/1915/index.html. Details
• 'Sir William Henry Bragg - Biography', in Nobel e-Museum, 1996, http://www.nobel.se/physics/laureates/1915/wh-bragg-bio.html. Details
• Granqvist, G., 'Nobel Prize in Physics 1915 - Presentation Speech', in Nobel e-Museum, 1996, http://www.nobel.se/physics/laureates/1915/press.html. Details

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

• Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Technology in Australia 1788-1988, Online edn, Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, Melbourne, 3 May 2000, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/tia/index_b.html. Details
• Federation and Meteorology, 2001, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/fam/index_b.html. Details
• Clarebrough, L. M.; Head, A. K., 'Walter Boas 1904-1982', Historical Records of Australian Science, 6 (4) (1987), 507-517. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9870640507. Details
• Edgeloe, V. A., 'Mitchell, Sir William (1861-1962), scholar, educationist and administrator' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 10: 1891 - 1939 Lat-Ner, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1986), pp. 535-537, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mitchell-sir-william-7610. Details
• Rees, A. L. G., 'Ian William Wark 1899-1985', Historical Records of Australian Science, 6 (4) (1987), 533-548. https://doi.org/10.1071HR9870640533. Details
• Serle, Percival, Dictionary of Australian biography (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1949). Details
• Trainor, J. P., Salute to the X-ray pioneers of Australia (Sydney: W. Watson and Sons Ltd, 1946), 81 pp. Details