View source for William Henry Bragg

{{Short description|British X-ray crystallographer (1862–1942)}}
{{Other people|William Bragg}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2012}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix  = [[Sir]]
| name              = William Bragg
| honorific_suffix  = {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|OM|KBE|CBE|FRS|size=100}}
| image             = Wh-bragg.jpg
| caption           = Bragg in 1915
| order             = 46th
| office            = President of the Royal Society
| term_start        = 1935
| term_end          = 1940
| predecessor       = [[Frederick Hopkins]]
| successor         = [[Henry Hallett Dale]]
| birth_date        = {{Birth date|1862|07|02|df=yes}}
| birth_place       = [[Westward, Cumbria|Westward]], [[England]], [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|UKGBI]]
| death_date        = {{Death date and age|1942|03|12|1862|07|02|df=yes}}
| death_place       = [[London]], UK
| education         = {{Plain list|
* [[Robert Smyth Academy]]
* [[King William's College]]
}}
{{Infobox scientist
| embed             = yes
| alma_mater        = [[Trinity College, Cambridge]]
| known_for         = [[Bragg's law]] (1913)
| spouse            = {{Marriage|Gwendoline Todd|1889}}
| children          = 3, including [[Lawrence Bragg|Lawrence]]
| awards            = {{Plain list| [[Matteucci Medal]] (1915)
* [[Barnard Medal for Meritorious Service to Science]] (1915)
* {{Nowrap|[[Nobel Prize in Physics]] (1915)}}
* [[Rumford Medal]] (1916)
* [[Order of the British Empire]] (Knight Commander, 1920)
* [[Copley Medal]] (1930)
* [[Order of Merit]] (1931)
* [[IET Faraday Medal]] (1936)
* [[John J. Carty Award for the Advancement of Science]] (1939)
}}
| fields            = [[X-ray crystallography]]
| work_institutions = {{Plain list|
* [[University of Adelaide]] <br/> (1886–1909)
* [[University of Leeds]] <br/> (1909–15)
* [[University College London]] (1915–23)
* [[Royal Institution]] (1923–42)
}}
| academic_advisors = [[Edward Routh]]<ref name=PhysicsTree>{{Cite web|title=William Henry Bragg - Physics Tree|url=https://academictree.org/physics/peopleinfo.php?pid=53856|website=academictree.org|access-date=2025-07-29}}</ref>
| notable_students  = {{Collapsible list|title={{Nobold|''See list''}}
 | [[William Astbury]]<ref name=PhysicsTree/>
 | [[Kedareswar Banerjee]]<ref name=PhysicsTree/>
 | [[John Bernal]]<ref name=PhysicsTree/>
 | [[Lawrence Bragg]]
 | [[John Burton Cleland]]<ref name=PhysicsTree/>
 | [[Ernest Gordon Cox]]<ref name=PhysicsTree/>
 | [[Richard Kleeman]]<ref name=PhysicsTree/>
 | [[Kathleen Lonsdale]]<ref name=PhysicsTree/>
 | [[John Madsen (physicist)|John Madsen]]<ref name=PhysicsTree/>
 | [[Arthur Lindo Patterson]]<ref name=PhysicsTree/>
 | [[Alexander Rankine]]<ref name=PhysicsTree/>
 | [[John Monteath Robertson]]<ref name=PhysicsTree/>
 }}
| signature         = William Henry Bragg signature.png
}}
}}

'''Sir William Henry Bragg''' (2 July 1862 – 12 March 1942) was a British [[X-ray crystallographer]] who uniquely<ref name=joint>This is still a unique accomplishment, because no other parent-child combination has yet shared a Nobel Prize (in any field). In several cases, a parent has won a Nobel Prize, and then years later, the child has won the Nobel Prize for separate research. An example of this is with [[Marie Curie]] and her daughter [[Irène Joliot-Curie]], who are the only mother-daughter pair. Several father-son pairs have won two separate Nobel Prizes.</ref> shared a [[Nobel Prize#Specially distinguished laureates|Nobel Prize]] with his son [[Lawrence Bragg]] – the 1915 [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] "for their services in the analysis of [[crystal structure]] by means of [[X-ray]]s".<ref>{{cite web |title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 1915 |publisher=Nobel Foundation |url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1915/index.html |access-date=2008-10-09}}</ref>

== Early life and education ==
[[File:Market Harborough Grammar School.jpg|right|thumb|The Old Grammar School, [[Market Harborough]], which has a plaque inside noting Bragg's attendance.]]
William Henry Bragg was born on 2 July 1862<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=William Bragg: Facts |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1915/wh-bragg/facts/ |access-date=19 September 2025 |website=The Nobel Prize}}</ref> in [[Westward, Cumbria|Westward]], [[Cumberland]], England, the son of Robert John Bragg, a merchant marine officer and farmer, and Mary Wood, a clergyman's daughter. His mother died when he was age 7, and was raised by his uncle (also named William Bragg) at [[Market Harborough]]. He was educated at the [[Robert Smyth Academy|Grammar School]] there, at [[King William's College]] on the [[Isle of Man]], and, having won an [[exhibition (scholarship)|exhibition]], at [[Trinity College, Cambridge]]. He graduated in 1884 as third [[Wrangler (University of Cambridge)|Wrangler]], and in 1885 was awarded [[First Class Honours]] in the mathematical [[tripos]].<ref>{{acad|id=BRG880WH|name=Bragg, William Henry}}</ref><ref name=dab>{{Dictionary of Australian Biography | First=William Henry | Last=Bragg | shortlink=0-dict-biogBr-By.html#bragg1 | access-date=7 October 2008 }}</ref><ref name=adb>{{Australian Dictionary of Biography | last=Tomlin | first=S. G. | year=1979 | id=A070396b | title= Bragg, Sir William Henry (1862–1942) | access-date=7 October 2008 }}</ref>

== Career and research ==
=== University of Adelaide ===
In 1885,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article208372343 |title=The New Elder Professor of Mathematics. |newspaper=[[The Express and Telegraph]] |volume=XXIII |issue=6,596 |location=South Australia |date=18 December 1885 |access-date=11 February 2018 |page=2 (Afternoon Edition.) |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Bragg was appointed Elder Professor of Mathematics and Physics at the [[University of Adelaide]]<ref>[http://www.physics.adelaide.edu.au/history/BraggCentenary.htm Bragg Centenary, 1886–1986] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220316132533/http://www.physics.adelaide.edu.au/history/BraggCentenary.htm |date=16 March 2022 }}, University of Adelaide, Pages 3 & 4. Proof of advertisement in the Oxford University Gazette of 16 October 1885, and the Cambridge University Reporter of 13 October 1885. The advertisements read:
:THE UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE
:ELDER PROFESSOR OF MATHEMATICS AND EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS
:The Council invite applications for the above Professorship. Salary £800 per annum. The appointment will be for a term of five years, subject to renewal at the discretion of the Council. Salary will date from March&nbsp;1, 1886, and the Professor will be expected to enter on his duties on that date. An allowance will be made for travelling expenses. Applications with testimonials should reach ... not later than December&nbsp;1, 1885.
Bragg was informed of his appointment by a letter dated 17 December 1885.</ref> in Australia, and started work there in early 1886.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article36320906 |title=THE ADELAIDE UNIVERSITY. |newspaper=[[The South Australian Advertiser]] |volume=XXVIII |issue=8500 |date=15 January 1886 |access-date=11 February 2018 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Being a skilled mathematician, at that time he had limited knowledge of physics, most of which was in the form of applied mathematics he had learnt at Trinity College. Also at that time, there were only about a hundred students doing full courses at Adelaide, of whom less than a handful belonged to the science school, whose deficient teaching facilities he improved by apprenticing himself to a firm of instrument makers. He was an able and popular lecturer; he encouraged the formation of the student union, and the attendance, free of charge, of science teachers at his lectures.<ref name=dab/><ref name=adb/>

Bragg's interest in physics developed, particularly in the field of [[electromagnetism]]. <!-- In his early years, he spent a year at the [[Cavendish Laboratory]] taking the equivalent of an undergraduate course.{{cn|date=November 2010}} --> In 1895, he was visited by [[Ernest Rutherford]], en route from New Zealand to Cambridge; this was the commencement of a lifelong friendship. He had a keen interest in the new discovery of X-rays by [[Wilhelm Röntgen]]. On 29 May 1896 at Adelaide, he demonstrated before a meeting of local doctors the application of "X-rays to reveal structures that were otherwise invisible". [[Samuel Barbour]], senior chemist of [[F. H. Faulding & Co.]], an Adelaide pharmaceutical manufacturer, supplied the necessary apparatus in the form of a [[Crookes tube]], a glass discharge tube. The tube had been obtained at Leeds, England, where Barbour visited the firm of [[Reynolds and Branson]], a manufacturer of photographic and laboratory equipment. Barbour returned to Adelaide in April 1896. Barbour had conducted his own experiments shortly after return to Australia, but results were limited due to limited battery power.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article199894315 |title=RONTGEN PHOTOGRAPHY UNSUSPECTED. |newspaper=[[Evening Journal (Adelaide)|Evening Journal]] |volume=XXVIII |issue=7976 |location=Adelaide |date=30 May 1896 |access-date=11 February 2018 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> At the University, the tube was attached to an induction coil and a battery borrowed from Sir [[Charles Todd (pioneer)|Charles Todd]], Bragg's father-in-law. The [[induction coil]] was utilised to produce the [[electric spark]] necessary for Bragg and Barbour to "generate short bursts of X-rays". The audience was favorably impressed. He availed himself as a test subject, in the manner of Röntgen and allowed an X-ray photograph to be taken of his hand. The image of the fingers in his hand revealed "an old injury to one of his fingers sustained when using the turnip chopping machine on his father's farm in [[Cumbria]]".<ref>George, Robert. (1996). 100 Years of X-Rays – the South Australian Connection. The Journal of the Radiology History & Heritage Charitable Trust. 12(Autumn/Winter): 3.</ref><ref>Hall, Kersten T. (2014). The Man in the Monkeynut Coat: William Astbury and the Forgotten Road to the Double-Helix. Oxford University Press. Oxford. Page 26.</ref>

As early as 1895, Bragg was working on [[wireless telegraphy]], though public lectures and demonstrations focussed on his X-ray research which would later lead to his Nobel Prize. In a hurried visit by Rutherford, he was reported as working on a Hertzian oscillator. There were many common practical threads to the two technologies and he was ably assisted in the laboratory by Arthur Lionel Rogers who manufactured much of the equipment. On 21 September 1897 Bragg gave the first recorded public demonstration of the working of wireless telegraphy in Australia during a lecture meeting at the University of Adelaide as part of the Public Teachers' Union conference.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article54509107 |title=PUBLIC TEACHERS' UNION. |newspaper=[[South Australian Register]] |volume=LXII |issue=15,869 |date=22 September 1897 |access-date=8 February 2018 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article162381651 |title=SECOND DAY. |newspaper=[[Adelaide Observer]] |volume=LIV |issue=2,921 |date=25 September 1897 |access-date=8 February 2018 |page=14 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Bragg departed Adelaide in December 1897,<ref name=":0">{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article209126386 |title=THE LATE MR. MCPHERSON. |newspaper=[[The Express and Telegraph]] |volume=XXXV |issue=10,241 |location=South Australia |date=15 December 1897 |access-date=11 February 2018 |page=2|edition=ONE O'CLOCK |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> and spent all of 1898 on a 12-month leave of absence, touring Great Britain and Europe and during this time visited Marconi and inspected his wireless facilities.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article73222367 |title=ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY. |newspaper=[[The Advertiser (Adelaide)|The Advertiser]] |location=Adelaide |date=11 May 1899 |access-date=8 February 2018 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> He returned to Adelaide in early March 1899,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article207915588 |title=RETURN OF PROFESSOR BRAGG. |newspaper=[[Evening Journal (Adelaide)|Evening Journal]] |volume=XXXI |issue=8817 |location=Adelaide |date=6 March 1899 |access-date=11 February 2018 |page=2|edition=ONE O'CLOCK |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> and already on 13 May 1899, Bragg and his father-in-law, Sir Charles Todd, were conducting preliminary tests of wireless telegraphy with a transmitter at the Observatory and a receiver on the South Road (about 200 metres).<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article54382369 |title=WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY. |newspaper=[[South Australian Register]] |volume=LXIV |issue=16,381 |date=15 May 1899 |access-date=8 February 2018 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Experiments continued throughout the southern winter of 1899 and the range was progressively extended to Henley Beach. In September the work was extended to two way transmissions with the addition of a second induction coil loaned by Mr. Oddie of Ballarat.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article207930155 |title=WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY. |newspaper=[[Evening Journal (Adelaide)|Evening Journal]] |volume=XXXI |issue=8989 |location=Adelaide |date=28 September 1899 |access-date=11 February 2018 |page=2|edition=ONE O'CLOCK |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> It was desired to extend the experiments cross a sea path and Todd was interested in connecting Cape Spencer and Althorpe Island, but local costs were considered prohibitive while the charges for patented equipment from the [[Marconi Company]] were exorbitant. At the same time Bragg's interests were leaning towards X-rays and practical work in wireless in South Australia was largely dormant for the next decade.

The turning-point in Bragg's career came in 1904 when he gave the presidential address to section A of the [[Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science]] in [[Dunedin]], New Zealand,<ref name=adb/> on "Some Recent Advances in the Theory of the Ionization of Gases". This idea was followed up "in a brilliant series of researches"<ref name=adb/> which, within three years, earned him a fellowship of the [[Royal Society]] of London. This paper was also the origin of his first book ''Studies in Radioactivity'' (1912). Soon after the delivery of his 1904 address, some [[radium bromide]] was made available to Bragg for experimentation. In December 1904 his paper "On the Absorption of α Rays and on the Classification of the α Rays from Radium" appeared in the ''[[Philosophical Magazine]]'', and in the same issue a paper "On the Ionization Curves of Radium", written in collaboration with his student [[Richard Kleeman]], also appeared.<ref name=dab/><ref name=adb/>

At the end of 1908, Bragg returned to England. During his 23 years in Australia "he had seen the number of students at the University of Adelaide almost quadruple, and had a full share in the development of its excellent science school."<ref name=dab/> He had returned to England on the maiden voyage of the [[SS Waratah|SS ''Waratah'']], a ship which vanished at sea on its second voyage the next year. He had been alarmed at the ship's tendency to list during his voyage, and had concluded that the ship's [[metacentric height|metacentre]] was just below her [[centre of gravity]]. In 1911, he testified his belief that the ''Waratah'' was unstable at the Inquiry into the ship's disappearance.<ref name="NLAInqreport">{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5235069 |title=THE WARATAH. A PROFESSOR'S ALARM: SAVED BY A VISION. MISS HAY WARNED.|newspaper=[[The Advertiser (Adelaide)|The Advertiser]] |volume=LIII |issue=16,306 |location=South Australia |date=20 January 1911 |access-date=2 September 2018 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

There is a bust of Bragg in [[North Terrace, Adelaide]], South Australia.

=== University of Leeds ===
[[Image:Bragg plaque leeds.jpg|thumb|Commemorative plaque on the [[Parkinson Building]], University of Leeds]]
[[Image:X-ray spectrometer, 1912. (9660569929).jpg|thumb|X-ray spectrometer developed by Bragg]]
From 1909 to 1915, Bragg was Cavendish Professor of Physics at the [[University of Leeds]]. He continued his work on X-rays with much success. He invented the [[X-ray spectrometer]] and with his son, [[Lawrence Bragg|Lawrence]], then a research student at Cambridge, founded the new science of [[X-ray crystallography]], the analysis of crystal structure using [[X-ray diffraction]].<ref name="Stoddart">{{cite journal |last1=Stoddart |first1=Charlotte |title=Structural biology: How proteins got their close-up |journal=Knowable Magazine |date=1 March 2022 |doi=10.1146/knowable-022822-1|doi-access=free |url=https://knowablemagazine.org/article/living-world/2022/structural-biology-how-proteins-got-their-closeup |access-date=25 March 2022|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

===World War I===
Both of his sons, Lawrence and Robert, were called into the army after the [[First World War]] broke out in 1914 .<ref>{{cite book|last1=Van der Kloot|first1=William|title=Great Scientists wage the Great War|date=2014|publisher=Fonthill|location=Stroud|pages=93–128}}</ref> The following year, Bragg was appointed [[Quain Professor]] of Physics at [[University College London]].<ref name=dab/> He had to wait for almost a year to contribute to the war effort; in July 1915, he was appointed to the [[Board of Invention and Research]] set up by the Admiralty.<ref name=dab/> In September, his younger son Robert died of wounds at [[Gallipoli campaign|Gallipoli]]. In November, he shared the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] with Lawrence. The Navy was struggling to prevent sinkings by unseen, submerged [[U-boat]]s. The scientists recommended that the best tactic was to listen for the submarines. The Navy had a [[hydrophone]] research establishment at [[Aberdour]], Scotland, staffed with navy men. In November 1915, two young physicists were added to its staff. Bowing to outside pressure to use science, in July 1916, the Admiralty appointed Bragg as scientific director at Aberdour, assisted by three additional young physicists. They developed an improved directional hydrophone, which finally convinced the Admiralty of their usefulness. Late in 1916, Bragg with his small group moved to [[Harwich]], where the staff was enlarged and they had access to a submarine for tests. In France, where scientists had been mobilized since the beginning of the war, the physicist [[Paul Langevin]] made a major stride with echolocation, generating intense sound pulses with quartz sheets oscillated at high frequency, which were then used as microphones to listen for echoes. Quartz was usable when [[vacuum tube]]s became available at the end of 1917 to amplify the faint signals. The British made [[sonar]] practicable by using mosaics of small quartz bits rather than slices from a large crystal. In January 1918, Bragg moved into the Admiralty as head of scientific research in the anti-submarine division. By war's end, British vessels were being equipped with [[sonar]] manned by trained listeners.

Inspired by Lawrence's methods for locating enemy guns by [[sound ranging|the sound of their firing]], the output from six microphones miles apart along the coast were recorded on moving photographic film. [[Artillery sound ranging|Sound ranging]] is much more accurate in the sea than in the turbulent atmosphere. They were able to localize the sites of distant explosions, which were used to obtain the precise positions of British warships and of minefields.

After the war, Bragg returned to University College London, where he continued to work on crystal analysis.<ref name=dab/>

=== Royal Institution ===
In 1923, Bragg was appointed [[Fullerian Professor of Chemistry]] at the [[Royal Institution]] and Director of the Davy Faraday Research Laboratory.<ref name="DFRL">[https://web.archive.org/web/20120211202445/http://www.rigb.org/contentControl?action=displayContent&id=00000000046 William Henry Bragg (1862–1942)]. The Davy Faraday Research Laboratory</ref> This institution was practically rebuilt in 1929–1930 and, under Bragg's directorship, many valuable papers were issued from the laboratory.<ref name=dab/> In 1919, 1923, 1925, and 1931, he was invited to deliver the [[Royal Institution Christmas Lectures|Royal Institution Christmas Lecture]] on ''The World of Sound''; ''Concerning the Nature of Things,'' ''Old Trades and New Knowledge'' and ''The Universe of Life'' respectively.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.iucr.org/publ/50yearsofxraydiffraction/full-text/w-h-bragg|title=IUCr|website=iucr.org|access-date=2019-07-07}}</ref>

=== Royal Society and World War II ===
In 1935, Bragg was elected [[President of the Royal Society]].<ref name="frs">{{Cite journal | last1 = Da c. Andrade | first1 = E. N. | author-link1 = Edward Andrade| last2 = Lonsdale | first2 = K. | doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1943.0003 | title = William Henry Bragg. 1862-1942 | journal = [[Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society]] | volume = 4 | issue = 12 | pages = 276 | year = 1943 | jstor = 769040| s2cid = 202574479 }}</ref> The physiologist [[Archibald Hill|A. V. Hill]] was biological secretary and soon A. C. G. Egerton became physical secretary.<ref>Van der Kloot 2014, pp. 201-207</ref> During World War I, all three had stood by for frustrating months before their skills were employed for the war effort. Now the cause of science was strengthened by the report of a high-level Army committee on lessons learned in the last war; their first recommendation was to "keep abreast of modern scientific developments".<ref>Van der Kloot 2014, p. 202.</ref> Anticipating another war, the Ministry of Labour was persuaded to accept Hill as a consultant on scientific manpower. The Royal Society compiled a register of qualified men. They proposed a small committee on science to advise the Committee on Imperial Defence, but this was rejected. Finally in 1940, as his term ended, a scientific advisory committee to the War Cabinet was appointed. He was among the 2,300 names of prominent persons listed on the Nazis' [[The Black Book (list)|Black Book]], of those who were to be arrested on the invasion of Great Britain and turned over to the [[Gestapo]].

== Personal life and death ==
In 1889, in [[Adelaide]], Bragg married Gwendoline Todd, a skilled water-colour painter and the daughter of astronomer [[Charles Todd (astronomer)|Charles Todd]].<ref name=dab/><ref name=adb/> They had three children; Gwendolen, [[Lawrence Bragg|Lawrence]], and Robert. Gwendolen married architect [[Alban Caroe]]. Bragg taught Lawrence at the [[University of Adelaide]], and Robert was killed in the [[Battle of Gallipoli]].

Bragg played tennis and golf, and as a founding member of the [[North Adelaide Lacrosse Club|North Adelaide]] and [[Adelaide University Lacrosse Club|Adelaide University]] lacrosse clubs, contributed to the introduction of [[lacrosse]] to South Australia. He was also the Secretary of the Adelaide University Chess Association.<ref>[http://www.physics.adelaide.edu.au/history/BraggCentenary.htm Bragg Centenary, 1886–1986] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220316132533/http://www.physics.adelaide.edu.au/history/BraggCentenary.htm |date=16 March 2022 }}, University of Adelaide, page 43.</ref>

Bragg died of heart failure on 12 March 1942 in [[London]] at the age of 79.<ref name=":1" />

== Awards and honours ==
Bragg was joint winner with his son, [[Lawrence Bragg]], of the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] in 1915 "for their services in the analysis of [[crystal structure]] by means of [[X-ray]]".<ref name = "NobelBragg">{{cite web |title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 1915 |publisher=Nobel Foundation |url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1915/index.html |access-date=2018-04-26}}</ref>

Bragg was elected [[Fellow of the Royal Society]] in 1907, vice-president in 1920, and served as [[President of the Royal Society]] from 1935 to 1940. He was elected an International Member of the [[National Academy of Sciences]] in 1939 and an International Member of the [[American Philosophical Society]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=William Bragg |url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/20001183.html |access-date=2023-05-03 |website=www.nasonline.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=William+Bragg&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2023-05-03 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref> He was elected a Member of the [[Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium]] on 1 June 1946.

Bragg was made Commander of the [[Order of the British Empire]] (CBE) in 1917, and Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the [[1920 New Year Honours]].<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=31840|supp=y| page=3758|date=30 March 1920}}</ref> He was admitted to the [[Order of Merit]] in 1931.<ref name=dab/>

* [[Matteucci Medal]] (1915)
* [[Rumford Medal]] (1916)
* [[Copley Medal]] (1930)
* [[Franklin Medal]] (1930)
* [[John J. Carty Award for the Advancement of Science|John J. Carty Award]] of the [[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]] (1939)<ref name=Carty>{{cite web|title=John J. Carty Award for the Advancement of Science|url=http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARDS_carty|publisher=National Academy of Sciences|access-date=25 February 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101229180532/http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARDS_carty <!--Added by H3llBot-->|archive-date=29 December 2010}}</ref>

The [[Electoral district of Bragg]] in the [[South Australian House of Assembly]] was created in 1970, and was named after both William and Lawrence Bragg.

The lecture theatre of [[King William's College]] (KWC) is named in memory of Bragg; the Sixth-Form invitational literary debating society at KWC, the Bragg Society, is also named in his memory. One of the school "Houses" at Robert Smyth School, [[Market Harborough]], Leicester, is named "Bragg" in memory of him being a student there. Since 1992, the [[Australian Institute of Physics]] has awarded the [[Bragg Gold Medal]] for excellence in physics for the best Ph.D. thesis by a student at an Australian university. The two sides of the medal contain the images of Sir William Henry and his son Sir Lawrence Bragg.<ref>{{cite web | title=Bragg Gold Medal for Excellence in Physics | url=http://www.aip.org.au/content/bragg | publisher=Australian Institute of Physics | year=2009 | access-date=11 January 2009 | archive-date=12 March 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312065229/http://www.aip.org.au/content/bragg | url-status=dead }}</ref>

The Experimental Technique Centre at [[Brunel University]] is named the Bragg Building. The Sir William Henry Bragg Building at the [[University of Leeds]] opened in 2021.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-10-15 |title=Sir William Henry Bragg Building is now open - Estates and Facilities |url=https://estates.leeds.ac.uk/news/sir-william-henry-bragg-building-is-now-open/ |access-date=2022-07-04 |website= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211015142109/https://estates.leeds.ac.uk/news/sir-william-henry-bragg-building-is-now-open/ |archive-date=15 October 2021 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1962, the Bragg Laboratories were constructed at the [[University of Adelaide]] to commemorate 100 years since the birth of Sir William H. Bragg.<ref name=dab/>

The Australian Bragg Centre for Proton Therapy and Research<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.australianbraggcentre.com|title=Australian Bragg Centre for Proton Therapy|access-date=2020-08-22}}</ref> also in Adelaide, Australia was completed in late 2023. It is named for both father and son and offers radiation therapy for cancer patients.

In August 2013, Bragg's relative, the broadcaster [[Melvyn Bragg]], presented a BBC Radio 4 programme "Bragg on the Braggs" on the 1915 [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] winners.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.leeds.ac.uk/forstaff/news/article/4011/bragg_on_the_braggs|title=Bragg on the Braggs|last=Garner|first=Louise|website=leeds.ac.uk|date=2 March 2017 |language=en|access-date=2019-12-29}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0383vb0|title=BBC Radio 4 - Bragg on the Braggs|website=BBC|language=en-GB|access-date=2019-12-29}}</ref>

==Publications==
* William Henry Bragg, William Lawrence Bragg, "X Rays and Crystal Structure", G. Bell & Son, London, 1915. 
* William Henry Bragg, ''The World of Sound'' (1920)
* William Henry Bragg, ''The Crystalline State'' – The [[Romanes Lecture]] for 1925. Oxford, 1925.
* William Henry Bragg, ''Concerning the Nature of Things'' (1925)
* William Henry Bragg, ''Old Trades and New Knowledge'' (1926)
* William Henry Bragg, ''An Introduction to Crystal Analysis'' (1928)
* William Henry Bragg, ''The Universe of Light'' (1933)

==See also==
* [[George Gamow]] – has 1931 photograph with Bragg, location unspecified.
* [[List of Nobel laureates in Physics]]
* [[List of presidents of the Royal Society]]

==References==
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==Further reading==
*"[a] most valuable record of his work and picture of his personality is the excellent [[doi:10.1098/rsbm.1943.0003|obituary]] written by Professor Andrade of London University for the Royal Society of London." Statement made by Sir [[Kerr Grant]], in:
*"The Life and work of Sir William Bragg", the John Murtagh Macrossan Memorial Lecture for 1950, University of Queensland. Written and presented by Sir Kerr Grant, Emeritus Professor of Physics, University of Adelaide. Reproduced as pages 5–37 of [http://www.physics.adelaide.edu.au/history/BraggCentenary.htm Bragg Centenary, 1886–1986] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220316132533/http://www.physics.adelaide.edu.au/history/BraggCentenary.htm |date=16 March 2022 }}, University of Adelaide.
*"William and Lawrence Bragg, Father and Son: The Most Extraordinary Collaboration in Science", John Jenkin, Oxford University Press 2008.
* Ross, John F. ''A History of Radio in South Australia 1897–1977'' (J. F. Ross, 1978) [https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/8967161?q&versionId=10382107]

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{wikiquote}}
{{EB1922 Poster|Bragg, Sir William Henry|William Henry Bragg}}
* {{cite web|url=http://alsos.wlu.edu/qsearch.aspx?browse=people/Bragg,+William+H.|title=Annotated Bibliography for William Henry Bragg from the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100804021002/http://alsos.wlu.edu/qsearch.aspx?browse=people%2FBragg%2C+William+H. |date=4 August 2010 |archive-date=2010-08-04}}
* {{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021035910/http://www-outreach.phy.cam.ac.uk/camphy/physicists/bragg_prelim.htm|url=http://www-outreach.phy.cam.ac.uk/camphy/physicists/bragg_prelim.htm|access-date=2024-07-02|archive-date=2012-10-21|title=Cambridge Physicists: William Lawrence Bragg (biography)}}
* [http://www.astbury.leeds.ac.uk/history/astbury1.htm Data from the University of Leeds] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071118123340/http://www.astbury.leeds.ac.uk/history/astbury1.htm |date=18 November 2007 }}
* [http://www.johnmadjackfuller.homestead.com/fullerianprofessors.html Fullerian Professorships]
* [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1915/index.html Nobelprize.org – The Nobel Prize for Physics in 1915]
* {{Nobelprize}}
* {{Librivox author}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-npo|pro}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Frederick Gowland Hopkins]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Royal Society|President of the Royal Society]]|order=46th|years=1935–1940}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Henry Hallett Dale]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Copley Medallists 1901–1950}}
{{Nobel Prize in Physics Laureates 1901–1925}}
{{1915 Nobel Prize winners}}
{{Royal Society presidents 1900s}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bragg, William Henry}}
[[Category:1862 births]]
[[Category:1942 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century British physicists]]
[[Category:Academics of University College London]]
[[Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Australian people of English descent]]
[[Category:Australian lacrosse players]]
[[Category:British lacrosse players]]
[[Category:British experimental physicists]]
[[Category:British optical physicists]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Members of the Royal Academy of Belgium]]
[[Category:Academics of the University of Leeds]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Members of the Order of Merit]]
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Physics]]
[[Category:People from Wigton]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Copley Medal]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Adelaide]]
[[Category:People educated at King William's College]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Institute of Physics]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Physical Society]]
[[Category:X-ray crystallography]]
[[Category:British crystallographers]]
[[Category:English Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:British Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:X-ray pioneers]]
[[Category:Leeds Blue Plaques]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Matteucci Medal]]
[[Category:Presidents of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics]]
[[Category:Cavendish Professors of Physics]]
[[Category:International members of the American Philosophical Society]]
[[Category:Recipients of Franklin Medal]]