Credit: Science Museum, London. Wellcome Images images@wellcome.ac.uk http://wellcomeimages.org Bragg X-ray spectrometer, England, 1910-1926

Developed by William Henry Bragg (1862-1942), a professor of physics based in Leeds, England, this X-ray spectrometer was used by him and his son William Lawrence Bragg (1890-1971) to investigate the structure of crystals. The Braggs developed new tools and techniques to understand crystals. Their research was the basis of ¬X-ray crystallography, a technique that was used to advance chemistry, physics and biology. The Braggs won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1915. 1910-1926 Published: -