9.
Father and Son
Lawrence
Bragg had produced a Law of X-ray diffraction that explained
Von Laue's results far more satisfactorily than Von
Laue's own explanations. But Bragg, who had just returned
to Cambridge as a research student, had only limited
resources with which to test his theory.
Lawrence
Bragg presented his ideas to his father, William Henry
Bragg, the Cavendish Professor of Physics at the University
of Leeds. Until 1912 W.H. Bragg had believed that X-rays
must be some kind of neutral particle, but von Laue's
discovery had quickly convinced him that X-rays were
waves. In 1913 W.H. Bragg designed and made an X-ray
spectrometer that would allow many types of crystals
to be investigated using his son's theory.
The
collaboration between the two Braggs led many people
to believe that it was the father, not the son, who
had come up with 'Bragg's Law'. This distressed Lawrence
Bragg, who was only 22 and trying to establish his own
reputation. Although Bragg's father made every attempt
to correct anyone who made this mistake, there was a
lasting difficulty between the two men. A few days before
his death in 1971 Lawrence wrote to his friend Max Perutz,
"I hope that there are many things your son is
tremendously good at which you can't do at all, because
that is the best foundation for a father-son relationship".
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