Lawrence Bragg

Lawrence Bragg (1890–1971) was an Australian-born British physicist who shared the 1915 Nobel Prize in Physics with his father, William Henry Bragg, for their work on X-ray crystallography.

William Henry Bragg: William Henry Bragg (1862–1942) was a British physicist who shared the 1915 Nobel Prize in Physics with his son Lawrence. Father and son jointly developed X-ray methods for studying crystal structures.
Bragg's law: Bragg’s law relates X-ray wavelength, crystal-plane spacing, and diffraction angle through constructive interference. Lawrence Bragg formulated the condition that made crystal diffraction patterns quantitatively interpretable.
University of Adelaide: The University of Adelaide is an Australian public research university founded in 1874. Bragg studied mathematics and physics there before moving to Britain for postgraduate study.
Protein crystallography: Protein crystallography uses diffraction from protein crystals to determine their three-dimensional atomic structures. Bragg fostered the research program that produced the first detailed protein structures.
Max Perutz: Max Perutz was an Austrian-born British molecular biologist who determined the structure of hemoglobin using X-ray crystallography. Bragg recruited Perutz to the Cavendish Laboratory, where their collaboration advanced protein crystallography.
X-ray crystallography: X-ray crystallography determines atomic and molecular structures from X-rays diffracted by crystals. Bragg’s work established the method’s foundation and demonstrated its power for revealing atomic arrangements.
University of Cambridge: The University of Cambridge is a public research university in Cambridge, England, founded in 1209. Bragg studied at Trinity College and later returned to Cambridge to lead the Cavendish Laboratory.
Molecular biology: Molecular biology studies biological processes through the interactions and structures of molecules such as DNA and proteins. The structural methods Bragg promoted became central to explaining biological function at molecular scale.
John Kendrew: John Kendrew was a British biochemist who determined myoglobin’s structure and shared the 1962 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Bragg supported Kendrew’s work at the Cavendish Laboratory on the first protein structure solved by X-ray crystallography.
X-ray diffraction: X-ray diffraction is the scattering of X-rays by matter, producing patterns shaped by its internal structure. The Braggs analyzed these patterns to infer crystal structures.

Linked from 17 pages