William Henry Bragg

William Henry Bragg ( born July 2, 1862 in Wigton, Cumberland, † March 10, 1942 in London) was a British physicist and Nobel laureate in physics.

Life

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

During the First World War, Bragg worked for the British Admiralty. 1920 Bragg was raised to knighthood, appointed President of the Physical Society and was awarded an honorary membership of Trinity College ( honorary fellow ). Since 1923, Bragg was a professor of chemistry 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.

Work

In his scientific works, Bragg dealt with the phenomenon of radioactivity and X-rays. Thus, the scientists explored such as the absorption and ionization behavior of ionizing radiation as a function of the distance of the source to the ionized matter.

1913 developed Bragg with his son Lawrence the X-ray diffraction based on Bragg spectrometer method, which was initially used for the determination of X-ray spectra, then also for the determination of crystal structures. With this method, the physicists to elucidate the atomic structure of some minerals and alloys as well as to determine the wavelength of X-rays. The focus was on the list established by the researchers and named after them, Bragg's law, which reflects the relationship between the diffraction angle Θ, λ the wavelength of the X-ray beam and the lattice spacing d: n? = 2d sin Θ.

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

Honors

1914 received Bragg and his son William Lawrence Bragg, the Barnard Medal. In 1915 he received and his son the Matteucci Medal. The Royal Society awarded him the Rumford Medal in 1916 and 1930, the Copley Medal. 1917 Bragg was awarded the title of Commander of the British Empire, in 1920 the title of Knight Commander of the British Empire. In 1931 he was admitted to the Order of Merit.