William Henry Bragg

**William Henry Bragg**
William Henry Bragg
Born	July 2, 1862 Wigton, Cumberland, England
Died	March 12, 1942 London, England
Residence	Australia, UK
Nationality	English
Institution	University of Adelaide University of Leeds University College London Royal Institution
Alma mater	Cambridge University
Academic advisor	J.J. Thompson
Notable students	W. L. Bragg Kathleen Lonsdale William Thomas Astbury
Known for	X-ray diffraction
Notable prizes	Nobel Prize in Physics (1915)
Note that he is the father of William Lawrence Bragg. There was no PhD in Cambridge until 1919, and J.J. Thompson was in fact his Master's advisor.

Sir William Henry Bragg OM, MA (Cantab), PhD, born (Westward, Cumberland, July 2, 1862 – March 10, 1942) was an English physicist and chemist, educated at King William's College, Isle of Man, and Trinity College, Cambridge. He served on the faculties of the University of Adelaide in Australia (1886-1908), the University of Leeds (1909-15), and University College London (1915-25). From 1923 he was Fullerian professor of chemistry at the Royal Institution and director of the Davy Faraday Research Laboratory. He shared with his son William Lawrence Bragg the 1915 Nobel Prize in Physics for their studies, using the X-ray spectrometer, of X-ray spectra, X-ray diffraction, and of crystal structure. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1906 and served as president of the society from 1935 to 1940.

Ernest Rutherford shared his theories on the proton and nucleus with Bragg, who disagreed with him.

The lecture theatre of King William's College is named in his memory.

Bragg gave the Romanes Lecture in Oxford for 1925, on The Crystalline State.

Since 1992 the Australian Institute of Physics has awarded the Bragg Gold Medal for Excellence in Physics for the best PhD thesis by a student at an Australian university.

In 1889, he married Gwendoline Todd.

He became Fellow of the Royal Society in 1906.