Robert Henry Bragg Jr.

Robert Henry “Pete” Bragg Jr. (August 11, 1919 – October 2, 2017), was a professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in the UC Berkeley College of Engineering.

Education[]

Bragg attended Tilden Technical High School and Woodrow Wilson Junior College in Chicago.^[1][2] Bragg served in the military during World War II, and then used the money allotted to him from the G.I. Bill to attend Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and pursue a career in physics.^[3] Bragg earned a BS degree in 1949^[2] and an MS degree in 1951 and subsequently worked for the Dover Electroplating Company and at the Portland Cement Association Research Laboratory.^[1] He earned his PhD in Physics from the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1960, and worked for Palo Alto Research Laboratory for the Lockheed Missiles and Space Company from 1960-1969.

Career[]

In 1969, the University of California at Berkeley hired him as a full professor,^[4] and he also became a principal investigator at the Materials and Molecular Division at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory.^[2] His research was in the areas of X-ray crystallography, eutectic solidification, and the properties of carbon materials.^[5]

While at Berkeley, Bragg served on the policy advisory board of the Black Studies program and managed the Chancellor's Fellowship Program providing opportunities for minority faculty.^[2]

Bragg retired from the Berkeley faculty in 1987, after a career that included service as Department Chair from 1978 to 1981.^[6] At the time he was one of six black faculty members.

In retirement, Bragg was awarded a Fulbright fellowship to conduct research at the University of Ife in Nigeria in 1992, and developed an exhibit for the Museum of African American Technology in Oakland.^[7] In 1995, Bragg became a fellow of the National Society of Black Physicists. ^[1]

He was not related to the British Bragg family of scientists.

References[]