Lawrence Bragg

Sir
Lawrence Bragg
CH OBE MC FRS
Sir Lawrence Bragg CH OBE MC FRS
	Bragg in 1915
3rd Director of the National Physical Laboratory
	In office; 1937–1938
Preceded by	Frank Edward Smith (acting)
Succeeded by	Charles Galton Darwin
Personal details
Born	William Lawrence Bragg; 31 March 1890; Adelaide, Colony of South Australia
Died	1 July 1971 (aged 81); Ipswich, England, UK
Spouse	Alice Hopkinson (m. 1921)
Children	4, including Stephen
Parent	William Henry Bragg (father);
Relatives	Charles Todd (grandfather)
Education	Queen's College, North Adelaide; St Peter's College, Adelaide;
Alma mater	University of Adelaide; Trinity College, Cambridge;
Known for	Bragg's law
Awards	Matteucci Medal (1915); Nobel Prize in Physics (1915); Hughes Medal (1931); Royal Medal (1946); Copley Medal (1966);
Scientific career
Fields	X-ray crystallography
Institutions	Trinity College, Cambridge (1914–1919); Victoria University of Manchester (1919–1937); National Physical Laboratory (1937–1938); University of Cambridge ; (1938–1953); Royal Institution (1953–1966);
Academic advisors	J. J. Thomson; William Henry Bragg;
Doctoral students	Evan James Williams (1926); Max Perutz (1940); Alex Stokes (1943);
Other notable students	George W. Brindley; Sivaramakrishna Chandrasekhar; John Crank; Marcelo Damy; Isidor Fankuchen; Peter Hirsch; John Kendrew; W. H. Zachariasen;

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

As of 2025, Bragg is the youngest ever Nobel laureate in physics, or in any science category, having received the award at the age of 25. 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.