Sir William Henry Bragg OM KBE PRS |
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Born |
Wigton, Cumberland, England |
2 July 1862
Died | 12 March 1942 London, England |
(aged 79)
Residence | England |
Nationality | British |
Alma mater | Trinity College, Cambridge |
Known for |
X-ray diffraction Bragg Curve |
Awards | Nobel Prize in Physics (1915) Barnard Medal (1915) Matteucci Medal (1915) Rumford Medal (1916) Copley Medal (1930) Faraday Medal (1936) John J. Carty Award (1939) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Physics |
Institutions |
University of Adelaide University of Leeds University College London Royal Institution |
Academic advisors | J. J. Thomson |
Notable students |
W. L. Bragg Kathleen Lonsdale William Thomas Astbury John Desmond Bernal John Burton Cleland |
Notes | |
He is the father of William Lawrence Bragg. Father and son jointly won the Nobel Prize.
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Sir William Henry Bragg OM KBE PRS (2 July 1862 – 12 March 1942) was a British physicist, chemist, mathematician and active sportsman who uniquely shared a Nobel Prize with his son William Lawrence Bragg – the 1915 Nobel Prize in Physics: "for their services in the analysis of crystal structure by means of X-rays". The mineral Braggite is named after him and his son. He was knighted in 1920.
Bragg was born at Westward near Wigton, Cumberland, the son of Robert John Bragg, a merchant marine officer and farmer, and his wife Mary née Wood, a clergyman's daughter. When Bragg was seven years old, his mother died, and he was raised by his uncle, also named William Bragg, at Market Harborough, Leicestershire. He was educated at the Grammar School there, at King William's College on the Isle of Man and, having won an exhibition (scholarship), at Trinity College, Cambridge. He graduated in 1884 as third wrangler, and in 1885 was awarded a first class honours in the mathematical tripos.