Author: Graeme K. Hunter
Pub: Oxford University Press 2004 p301 + xvi introduction, hardback
Price: ~£35
ISBN: 0 19 852921 X (Hbk)
The author, Graeme Hunter, says in his introduction that he was inspired to
write this biography because William Lawrence Bragg remains the youngest
winner of a Nobel prize. To distinguish the younger Bragg from his father,
William Henry Bragg, the elder one is referred to in this book (and in this
review) as 'WHB', the younger man as 'Bragg'
Bragg was also the first to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the award of his Nobel Prize. He was a remarkable man, who died in 1971, yet this is the first attempt at a biography, possibly because his interests covered a wide range of topics so that several biographers would be needed to do justice to the technical activities of their subject.
There are ten chapters, each devoted to a period of Bragg's life:
Within each chapter, family events and holidays are mixed in with his scientific activities; the author states (page xv) that this is 'a scientific biography rather than a biography of a scientist' unlike those written about other crystallographers such as J.D. Bernal or Dorothy Hodgkin whose biographies were not written by practising scientists. There is a great deal of science, fascinating to a crystallographer interested in the early development of the subject, but perhaps rather too much for others reading the book in order to learn about the man. Since this is not a crystallography text book, I am not reviewing the science. There are some fascinating details such as Bragg's work during World War I on 'sound ranging' using several microphones to detect the sound of cannon and then use 3D geometry to decide where the guns were located so that our artillery could be trained in that direction to destroy the enemy weapons.
Unlike Einstein or Rutherford, Bragg did not have a charismatic personality; he was a private man with a conventional home life, as can be seen in the family photographs. Nor like Einstein or Rutherford, did he stick to one branch of science, he thought of himself as a physicist but his work touched on chemistry, mineralogy, biology. He may be said to have founded the field of protein crystallography, yet he easily became depressed and felt ignorant of mathematics and chemistry. He was not interested in administration but he was enthusiastic about lecturing on science to the general public. He also had an artistic temperament, encouraging his wife to use electron density maps as embroidery patterns. Before his friend C.P. Snow gave his lecture on 'the Two Cultures' Bragg was active in promoting the idea of science as providing a good all round education despite the poor coverage of scientific issues in the media.
He did not get on well with either of his parents, (see Page 104 for relationship with his mother and page 142 that with his father, WHB, whose mother had died young and his father abandoned him to be brought up by his uncles.) Bragg's younger brother, Robert, was much more cheerful and merely laughed at their mother's exaggerations instead of trying to reason with her. He was killed at Gallipoli in 1915, had he lived, perhaps Bragg would have learnt from him how to handle his parents. Bragg was born in Australia in 1890 and brought up there for approximately the first 20 years of his life. The contrast between sunny Australia and what were then grey gloomy cities of Leeds and Manchester, may well have contributed to his bouts of depression. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) had not been discovered then, perhaps all he needed was some artificial sunlight.
This lack of communication did not extend to his students, he had a gift for choosing extremely able students, many of whom later became eminent 'founding fathers' of crystallography. Later students included Max Perutz and David Blow who were encouraged to work in new fields in which Bragg, using his ability to grasp the essential point of problems, could see ways to tackle with experiments which others thought impossible.
His understanding of the relationship between 2D diagrams and the 3D world enabled him to devise the 'Bubble raft' model as a way of thinking about dislocations in metals. During his time at the RI he encouraged lectures aimed at explaining science to the general public and gave some of the 'Christmas lectures' himself, some even televised but it seems unlikely that any recordings are still around. A few snippets of film have survived, and some were shown during the History of Physics meeting in Birmingham November 2004.
Bragg originally suggested to Watson that he write the popular science book 'The Double Helix' about the discovery of the structure of DNA and wrote the preface. A large part of the final chapter on Bragg's retirement is taken up with this controversial work. In a time when Britain was more discriminatory than it is today, Bragg had encouraged minorities to work in science. Several women and Jews worked in his laboratory; he nominated Kathleen Lonsdale to be one of the first 2 women Fellows of the Royal Society.
Comments on book production:
Selected Bibliography (taken from the list of references)
Kate Crennell