Bragg, William Lawrence (Lawrence) (1890 - 1971)

Summary

Sir Lawrence Bragg was born and educated in Adelaide and then moved to England where he was Professor of Physics, Victoria University, Manchester 1919-1937, at Cambridge 1938-1954 and Director, 1954-1966, of the Royal Institution. In 1915 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics jointly with his father, Sir William Bragg.

Details

Chronology

1908

Education - Bachelor of Arts (BA), University of Adelaide

1914

Career position - Fellow and lecturer in natural science, University of Cambridge

1914 - 1918

Military service - First World War. Captain, Depot, Field Survey Company [Work on sound-ranging for the artillery in France]

1 Jan 1918

Award - Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) - for services in connection with the War in France, Egypt and Salonika

1918

Award - Military Cross (MC)

1919 - 1937

Career position - Langworthy Professor of Physics, Victoria University, Manchester [in succession to Ernest Rutherford]

1921

Award - Fellow, The Royal Society, London (FRS)

1931

Award - Hughes Medal, The Royal Society, London

1937 - 1938

Career position - Director, National Physical Laboratory, Teddington

1938 - 1954

Career position - Cavendish professor of experimental physics, Cambridge [in succession to the late Lord Rutherford]

1 Jan 1941

Award - Knight Bachelor (Kt) [conferred 18 Feb 1941]

1946

Award - Royal Medal, The Royal Society, London

1954 - 1966

Career position - Director, Royal Institution

1966

Award - Copley Medal, The Royal Society, London

1 Jan 1967

Award - Companion of Honour - for services to Science

Related entries

Archival resources

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

National Library of Australia Oral History Collection

• William Lawrence Bragg - Records, 1900 - 1970, DeB 477; National Library of Australia Oral History Collection. Details

Published resources

Books

• 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, https://publications.innovatia.au/view/404883545/26/. 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
• Phillips, David, 'Sir William Lawrence Bragg, 1890-1971' in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004). Details

Journal Articles

• 'Obituaries: Oscar Ulrich Vonwiller: Clive Melville Harris: Charles Bickerton Blackburn: Lawrence Bragg', Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, 106 (3/4) (1973), 130-132. Details
• D'Alessandro, Deanna, 'An Australian chemist just won the Nobel prize. Here's how his work is changing the world', The Conversation (2025), https://doi.org/10.64628/AA.gngddnm37. 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, 'A Unique Partnership: William and Lawrence Bragg and the 1915 Nobel Prize in Physics', Minerva, 39 (2001), 373-392. Details
• Jenkin, John, 'Braggs' law or Bragg's law?', Australian Physicist, 49 (2012), 72.9. Details
• Spurling, Tom; Webb, John Mark, 'The Great War brought us tragedy but it also birthed Australian science', The Conversation (2015), https://doi.org/10.64628/AA.t4cqjfqsn. 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

Resources

• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/49306596. Details
• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q131729. Details
• 'Bragg, Lawrence (1890-1971)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-458785. Details

Resource Sections

• '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, https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1915/. Details
• 'Sir William Lawrence Bragg - Biography', in Nobel e-Museum, 1996, https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1915/wl-bragg/biographical/. Details
• Granqvist, G., 'Nobel Prize in Physics 1915 - Presentation Speech', in Nobel e-Museum, 1996, https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1915/ceremony-speech/. Details

Reviews

• Hunter, Graeme K., Light is a Messenger: the Life and Science of William Lawrence Bragg (2004)
  Jenkin, John, Historical Records of Australian Science, 16 (1), (2005), 111-113. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR05006. 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

• Nobel Australians, Australian Academy of Science, 2025, https://www.science.org.au/education/history-of-australian-science/nobel-australians. Details
• Trainor, J. P., Salute to the X-ray pioneers of Australia (Sydney: W. Watson and Sons Ltd, 1946), 81 pp. Details