Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Robert Charles Bragg was born in North Adelaide, South Australia in 1891. Robert’s father, Professor William Henry Bragg came to Adelaide from Cambridge in 1885 and was professor of mathematics and physics at the university for more than twenty years.

In 1899, Professor Bragg designed a two-storey home on East Terrace Adelaide where no doubt, Robert and his siblings enjoyed many happy days together exploring the open land nearby which is today the East Park land.

Robert and his brother William later attended the School and while there William proved to be a highly gifted student and Robert distinguished himself as a sportsman. Following the example of his father, William Lawrence Bragg showed an early interest in science and mathematics while Robert, also a good student  made the most of his spare time playing football and rowing. Robert developed into an outstanding sportsman and this along with his happy disposition ensured he was always popular among his peers.

Due to his brilliant scientific research into alpha, beta, and gamma rays, Robert’s father was offered a professorship at Leeds, England.

In 1909, he accepted the post, Robert, and William continued their studies at Trinity College Cambridge. While there, Robert rowed in the Cambridge University Eight but by 1910, while at Oundle School in Northamptonshire he wrote back to his friends in Adelaide telling them how he was not enjoying his new school nearly as much as he had enjoyed his time at ‘Saints.’ [i]

Upon completing his studies at Cambridge, William collaborated with his father and in 1915 jointly published a paper, X-Ray and Crystal Structure, for which they gained the highly prized Barnard medal. [ii]

Robert who had enlisted in the Royal Artillery was a second lieutenant in A Battery, 58th Brigade at Suvla Bay when a shell exploded near him and he was wounded severely. He was evacuated to a hospital ship but on 2 September 1915 died on the voyage to Malta; he was 22 years of age.

William served as a technical adviser with the British General Headquarters in France and Flanders and was overseas when it was announced that he and his father had been jointly awarded the Nobel Prize (Physics) for their services in the analysis of crystal structure by means of X-rays.

Both were later knighted and remain at the time of writing, the first and only father and son team to be jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics; William was only 25 years of age.

[i] St  Peter’s School Magazine - W K Thomas & Co, Adelaide, December 1915, p. 30-31
[ii] ibid