Lawrence Bragg

Sir Lawrence Bragg CH OBE MC FRS
Bragg in 1915
Born	William Lawrence Bragg (1890-03-31)31 March 1890 Adelaide, Colony of South Australia
Died	1 July 1971(1971-07-01) (aged 81) Waldringfield, Suffolk, England
Education	Queen's College, North Adelaide St Peter's College, Adelaide
Alma mater	University of Adelaide Trinity College, Cambridge
Known for	Bragg's law (1913)
Spouse	Alice Hopkinson ​ (m. 1921)​
Children	4, including Stephen
Father	William Henry Bragg
Relatives	Charles Todd (grandfather)
Awards	Matteucci Medal (1915) Nobel Prize in Physics (1915) Hughes Medal (1931) Royal Medal (1946) Copley Medal (1966)
Honours	Knight Bachelor (1941) Order of the Companions of Honour (1967)
Scientific career
Fields	Physics X-ray crystallography
Institutions	Victoria University of Manchester National Physical Laboratory Cavendish Laboratory Royal Institution
Academic advisors	J. J. Thomson[1] William Henry Bragg
Doctoral students	Evan James Williams (1926)[2] Max Perutz (1940) Alex Stokes (1943)[3]
Other notable students	John Crank[1]
See directorships and professorships 7th Director of the Davy-Faraday Research Laboratory In office 1954–1966 Preceded by Edward Andrade Succeeded by Richard Catlow 9th Fullerian Professor of Chemistry In office 1953–1966 Preceded by Edward Andrade Succeeded by George Porter 5th Cavendish Professor of Physics In office 1938–1953 Preceded by Ernest Rutherford Succeeded by Nevill Francis Mott 3rd Director of the National Physical Laboratory In office 1937–1938 Preceded by Frank Edward Smith (acting) Succeeded by Charles Galton Darwin 4th Langworthy Professor In office 1919–1937 Preceded by Ernest Rutherford Succeeded by Patrick Blackett

Sir William Lawrence Bragg (31 March 1890 – 1 July 1971) was an Australian-born British physicist who shared the 1915 Nobel Prize in Physics with his father William Henry Bragg "for their services in the analysis of crystal structure by means of X-rays",^[4] an important step in the development of X-ray crystallography.^[5]

As of 2024, he is the youngest ever Nobel laureate in physics, or in any science category, having received the award at the age of 25.^[6] Bragg was the director of the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, when James D. Watson and Francis Crick reported the discovery of the structure of DNA in February 1953.