William Henry Bragg

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William Henry Bragg, 1915

Sir William Henry Bragg (born July 2, 1862 in Wigton , Cumberland , † March 12, 1942 in London ) was a British physicist and Nobel Prize laureate in physics .

Life

Bragg visited the King William's College on the Isle of Man , and then studied at Trinity College of the University of Cambridge . In 1886, the 24-year-old received a call from the University of Adelaide in South Australia, where he took over the chair of mathematics and physics . On May 2, 1907 he was elected as a member (" Fellow ") in the Royal Society . After more than 20 years, the physicist returned to Great Britain in 1909 and received a professorship at the University of Leeds . Four years later, Bragg became Professor of Physics at University College London .

During the First World War Bragg worked for the British Admiralty . In 1920 Bragg was knighted, appointed President of the Physical Society and received an honorary membership of Trinity College (Honorary Fellow). From 1923 Bragg was a chemistry professor at the Royal Institution in London, from 1935 to 1940 he headed the Royal Society.

He married Gwendoline Todd in 1889. Their son was William Lawrence Bragg .

plant

In his scientific work Bragg dealt with the phenomena of radioactivity and X-rays . For example, the scientist researched the absorption and ionization behavior of ionizing radiation depending on the distance between the radiation source and the ionized matter.

In 1913 Bragg and his son Lawrence developed the Bragg spectrometer method based on X-ray diffraction , which was initially used to determine X-ray spectra, but then also to determine crystal structures . With this method, the physicists succeeded in elucidating the atomic structure of some minerals and alloys and in determining the wavelength of X-rays. The focus was on the Bragg equation established by the researchers and named after them , which shows the relationship between the diffraction angle Θ, the wavelength λ of the X-ray beam and the lattice plane spacing d : nλ = 2d sin Θ.

In recognition of these achievements, father and son were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1915 “for their services to the study of crystal structures using X-ray spectroscopy”.

Honors

In 1914 Bragg received the Barnard Medal together with his son William Lawrence Bragg . In 1915 he and his son received the Matteucci Medal . The Royal Society awarded him the Rumford Medal in 1916 and the Copley Medal in 1930 . In 1917 he was inducted into the Order of the British Empire as Commander and knighted as Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1920 . In 1931 he was accepted into the Order of Merit .

Since December 1922 he was a member of the Académie des Sciences . In 1927 he became an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh . In 1929 he was elected a corresponding member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences . In 1939 Bragg was admitted to the National Academy of Sciences and in 1940 to the American Philosophical Society .

In 1970 the Bragg lunar crater was named after him. The Bragg Islands in Antarctica also bear his name.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Biographical Index: Former RSE Fellows 1783–2002. Royal Society of Edinburgh, accessed October 12, 2019 .
  2. ^ Members of the previous academies. Sir William Henry Bragg. Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences , accessed on February 27, 2015 .
  3. ^ Member History: William H. Bragg. American Philosophical Society, accessed May 17, 2018 .
  4. ^ Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature
  5. ↑ Bragg Islands in the United States Geological Survey's Geographic Names Information System

Web links

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personal data
SURNAME Bragg, William Henry
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British Nobel Prize Winner in Physics
DATE OF BIRTH July 2, 1862
PLACE OF BIRTH Wigton, Cumberland
DATE OF DEATH March 12, 1942
Place of death London