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207 East Terrace – Public Schools Club STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: This house was the family home of William Henry and William Lawrence Bragg, the father and son joint recipients of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1915. Theirs is one of only two Nobel Prizes awarded a South Australian, the other being awarded to Sir Howard Florey, and the only Nobel Prize for Physics awarded to Australians. The house, designed by William Henry Bragg, was their family home for nine years, during which time Lawrence was completing the first stage of his tertiary education and his father was undertaking the early experiments and research in the field which was to bring them, nearly two decades later, the highest recognition. (HB Assessment Report 9/2004). RELEVANT CRITERIA (Under Section 16 of the Heritage Act 1993): (g) it has a special association with the life or work of a person or organisation or an event of historical importance. In February 1886 William Henry Bragg arrived in South Australia from England to take up the position of Chair of Mathematics at the University of Adelaide. Trained as a mathematician, Bragg was to discover the field of physics during his time in Adelaide, being required to also teach and demonstrate physics as well as maths at the University. A keen scientist, Bragg enthusiastically followed developments in physics overseas, and reproduced many of the new discoveries in Adelaide, including that of X-rays by Professor Rontgen in 1895. Bragg's interest in these new rays continued (he was the first to produce an X-ray photograph, of his hand, in South Australia) and was the basis of his future research which eventually led in 1915 to the awarding of the Nobel Prize for Physics to himself and his son, William Lawrence. Bragg's personal life also flourished while he was in South Australia. In June 1889 he married Gwendoline, the daughter of Charles Todd, then Postmaster-General and Director of the Adelaide Observatory. The couple rented a house in North Adelaide where their two sons were born: William Lawrence in March 1890 and Robert Charles in November 1892. The family lived in this house for 8 years before returning to England for a year's study leave in 1898. On returning to Adelaide, Bragg purchased a block of land on East Terrace and designed the house that was built on it in 1899. This house was to be the third home of William Bragg in Adelaide. His first three years in Adelaide were spent boarding at Dr Lendon's house on North Terrace. The nine years that the Bragg family lived in the East Terrace house were formative ones for both William and Lawrence. Lawrence completed his schooling and tertiary education and his father continued in his first professional position and began the experiments in X-rays that were to bring him and Lawrence the highest of accolades. Although the actual work which earned father and son the Nobel Prize for Physics was undertaken after they had returned to England in 1909, the groundwork of education, teaching and researching physics was done in Adelaide, part of which time was spent at 207 East Terrace. It is likely that most of this work was undertaken at the University of Adelaide, although it is also likely that the house was an integral part of this process - the homework, checking of research notes and social and family activities which supported the Bragg's scientific creativity. BRIEF HISTORICAL BACKGROUND William Henry and William Lawrence Bragg. William Henry Bragg was born in Westward, Cumberland on 2 July 1862. After a quiet childhood and education at Market Harborough (where an aptitude for science subjects became apparent) and King William's College on the Isle of Man, William's 'exceptional mathematical ability' resulted in the award of a Minor Scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he moved to in 1881 (Jenkin, p. 1, 3). At Cambridge he studied Mathematics and excelled in that subject over the next three years (www.nobel.se/physics/laureates/1915/wh-bragg-bio.html). After sitting examinations for the Mathematical Tripos in 1884, Bragg was both 'astounded and overjoyed' to be placed as Third Wrangler (that is, third in the rank of Honours) (Tomlin, p. 18. Jenkin, p. 7). He later completed the Tripos examination and achieved a First in January 1885. On finishing his mathematics studies he turned to physics, studying such subjects as waves and sound, optics and the theory of light in the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge for part of that year (www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/ bsparcs/exhib/nobel/braggw.htm; Jenkin, p. 7). Towards the end of 1885 Horace Lamb, who held the Chair of Mathematics at the University of Adelaide, resigned to return to work in England. The vacancy was advertised in the British press and had been noted by Bragg, who considered that at 23 and with no teaching experience his chances of appointment would be slight. However he was encouraged to apply by his lecturer, J J Thomson (who was also on the selection committee to appoint a successor to Lamb, and was himself awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1906 for his work on the investigation of the conduction of electricity by gases). Inspired by Thomson's support, Bragg hastily applied for the position, telegraphing his application on the closing date for entries (Medlin, p. 10). Although there were 23 candidates, Bragg was one of three short-listed for interview. He was notified of his success by a telegram which read 'As new Professor of Mathematics and Physics in Adelaide University would you give some particulars of your career.' (Medlin, p. 10). Formally this position was for mathematics, although it seems to have been 'informally' expanded to include physics, referred to in the 1887 University Calendar as the 'Elder Professor of Pure and Applied Mathematics, who shall also give instruction in Physics' (Tomlin, p. 21). Bragg was delighted in the appointment which, he wrote later, gave him an 'assured position, a salary beyond all expectation [#800], a new country with all the adventure of going abroad to it, a break away from being a subject, to be now my own master'. (cited in Tomlin, p. 20). On 14 January 1886 Bragg left England on the P&O ship Rome and used the voyage time to read text books on physics and brush up on his knowledge in that field, having only spent a short time studying physics at Cavendish. Bragg disembarked at Glenelg on 27 February 1886 and was met on the following day by Dr Alfred Lendon who took Bragg on a tour of Adelaide during his rounds (it is not clear how Bragg made his acquaintance) (Jenkin, p. 9). Lendon invited Bragg to board with him in his house on North Terrace, opposite the University, and Bragg stayed there for three years (Jenkin, p. 9). Bragg also made early acquaintance with the Todd family. He had already met Charles Todd (then Director of the Adelaide Observatory and Postmaster-General). Todd, who was in England at the time that Bragg had applied for the position at Adelaide University, had been invited to the interview panel, together with Professor Lamb, J J Thomson and Sir Arthur Blyth (the Agent-General for South Australia) (Medlin, p. 10). Bragg was both impressed and delighted with the Todd family: Charles and his wife Alice, their two sons (Charles and Hedley) and particularly their four daughters, Lizzie, Maude, Gwendoline and Lorna and became a regular visitor to their household (Jenkin, p. 11). During this time, Bragg and Gwendoline Todd began a relationship which was to lead to their engagement in January 1888 and to their marriage on 1 June 1889 in St Luke's Church, Whitmore Square (SHR 13598) (Jenkin, p. 11, 23). The couple rented a two storey terrace house in North Adelaide at 58 LeFevre Terrace (SHR 12831) on the corner of Tynte Street, from Henry Steiner, an Adelaide jeweller. It was here that their first son, William Lawrence was born on 31 March 1890, followed by their second, Robert Charles on 25 November 1892 (Jenkin, p. 23). William Henry Bragg took up his work at the University of Adelaide with enthusiasm. He was 'responsible for all the pure and applied mathematics and all the physics and practical physics teaching, and for much of the secondary-school public examining in these subjects as well.' (Jenkin, p. 13). He even went to a firm of instrument makers to learn how to make apparatus to fill the deficiencies of his teaching laboratory (Tomlin, p. 21). Bragg was concerned that the practical aspect of the sciences was deficient at both the University and schools. He addressed the deficiency within the University by establishing systematic practical courses which he himself instructed for many years with very little assistance (Medlin, p. 12). From being one of 'the least impressive of lecturers', Bragg soon developed skills in clear presentation and demonstration and found great satisfaction in sharing his knowledge with both students and public audiences alike (Medlin, p. 12). Over a period of years he gave a series of extension lectures, the subjects of which included radiation, X-rays and sound (Tomlin, p. 24) and always kept a keen interest in new developments in physics and news from overseas, incorporating these into his lectures. His attention was particularly attracted by X-rays. News of the discovery of X-rays by Professor Rontgen in Germany in December 1895, reached Australia in January 1896. Several Australian physicists, including Bragg, found ways to replicate Rontgen's discovery. The production of the first X-ray picture in Australia is credited to Professor Lyle in Melbourne (Tomlin, p.
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