Light is a Messenger

The Life and Science of William Lawrence Bragg

Graeme K. Hunter

First book on Bragg, who died more than 30 years ago
Biography of youngest-ever winner of the Nobel Prize
Bragg was director of the research department in which Watson and Crick discovered the structure of DNA
Long rivalry with Linus Pauling, whose career paralleled Bragg's
Bragg held many important scientific posts, including Cavendish Professor of Experimental Physics at Cambridge University and Director of the Royal Institution of Great Britain

Light is a Messenger

The Life and Science of William Lawrence Bragg

Graeme K. Hunter

Description

"Light is a Messenger" is the first biography of William Lawrence Bragg, who was only 25 when he won the 1915 Nobel Prize in Physics - the youngest person ever to win a Nobel Prize. It describes how Bragg discovered the use of X-rays to determine the arrangement of atoms in crystals and his pivotal role in developing this technique to the point that structures of the most complex molecules known to Man - the proteins and nucleic acids - could be solved. Although Bragg's Nobel Prize was for physics, his research profoundly affected chemistry and the new field of molecular biology, of which he became a founding figure. This book explains how these revolutionary scientific events occurred while Bragg struggled to emerge from the shadow of his father, Sir William Bragg, and amidst a career-long rivalry with the brilliant American chemist, Linus Pauling.

Light is a Messenger

The Life and Science of William Lawrence Bragg

Graeme K. Hunter

0:Introduction
1:A shy and reserved person: Adelaide, 1886-1908
2:Concatenation of fortunate circumstances: Cambridge, 1909-1914
3:Our show is going famously: World War One, 1914-1919
4:A system of simple and elegant architecture: Manchester, 1919-1930
5:Plus-plus chemistry: Manchester, 1931-1937
6:Supreme position in British physics: The National Physics Laboratory and Cambridge, 1937-1939
7:He will have to be Sir Lawrence: World War Two, 1939-1945
8:A message in code which we cannot yet decipher: Cambridge, 1945-53
9:The art of popular lecturing on scientific subjects: The Royal Institution, 1954-1966
10:A very difficult affair indeed: Retirement, 1966-1971
11:Epilogue