An Interactive Annotated World Bibliography of Printed and Digital Works in the History of Medicine and the Life Sciences from Circa 2000 BCE to 2022 by Fielding H. Garrison (1870-1935), Leslie T. Morton (1907-2004), and Jeremy M. Norman (1945- ) Traditionally Known as “Garrison-Morton”

15961 entries, 13944 authors and 1935 subjects. Updated: March 22, 2024

BRAGG, Sir William Lawrence

3 entries
  • 6919

The diffraction of short electromagnetic waves by a crystal.

Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society 17, 43-57, 1913.

At the age of 22, Bragg discovered that the regular pattern of dots produced on a photographic plate by an X-ray beam passing through a crystal could be regarded as a reflection of electromagnetic radiation from planes in a crystal that were especially densely studded with atoms. From this work the younger Bragg derived the “Bragg relation” or Bragg's law (nλ = 2d sin O). This relates the wavelength of the X-ray to the angle at which such a reflection could occur. See also: W. H. Bragg, “X-rays and Crystals,” Nature 90 (23 Jan. 1913) 572.



Subjects: BIOLOGY › MOLECULAR BIOLOGY › X-Ray Crystallography
  • 6920

The reflection of x-rays by crystals.

Proc. Roy. Soc. 88A, 428-30, 1913.

Discovery of X-ray crystallography. The father and son team of physicists, William Henry Bragg and William Lawrence Bragg, constructed the first X-ray spectrometer using crystals as gratings, using a known wavelength to determine the distances between atomic planes—and thus the structure—of crystalline substances. By the end of 1913 the Braggs reduced the problem of crystal structure analysis to a standard procedure. For further information see the entry at HistoryofInformation.com at this link. The Braggs' paper is available from the Royal Society at this link.



Subjects: BIOLOGY › MOLECULAR BIOLOGY, BIOLOGY › MOLECULAR BIOLOGY › X-Ray Crystallography
  • 9646

X rays and crystal structure.

London: G. Bell & Sons, 1915.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.



Subjects: BIOLOGY › MOLECULAR BIOLOGY › X-Ray Crystallography