BRAGG CENTENARY

Many people have collaborated in the attempt to collect raw material for this 1986 Bragg Centenary. It has not been a straightforward task even to attempt to collect complete and accurate data over the 100 years since 1886. There are inconsistencies between Acts, Statutes, decisions by the Council, Registrarial practices and so on, not to mention the (wholly understandable) vagaries of departmental approaches to their origins and histories.

Most of us engaged in this exercise are (well-intentioned) amateurs and, as such, have felt privileged to assemble the material for plundering in good time by the real professionals. We have been awed by the professional expertise by Rod Home, Susan Woodburn and Pamela Runge but we have had to press on, regrettable errors and omissions no doubt notwithstanding. We hope that we have prepared a reasonable base for serious reflection and scholarship.

The graduate list presented herein is that of the Bragg Centenary Commemoration Programme supplemented by those past B.Sc. students who have responded to our public call to identify themselves with one or the other of the three departments involved. With regard to Prize and Scholarship winners we have deliberately restricted ourselves to achievements whilst in Adelaide.

Certain biographical material was available for some of the many graduates and staff who have achieved distinction in other parts of the world. That material is insufficiently complete to justify inclusion. For the time being, it is regretted that names will have to speak for themselves.

The essential criterion applied in the listing of academic staff has been that the positions and incumbents should have been listed in the University Calendars. Records of distinguished visitors are very incomplete and partial listing was judged to be invidious; the same is true of the general staff many of whom served with distinction over many years. It is to be hoped that this regrettable defect will be corrected, and quickly.

The Committee that conceptualized these Celebrations, under the general stewardship of W.G. Elford, was:-

• P. Berry-Smith
• A. Del Fabbro
• A. Ewart
• H.S. Green
• R.B. Potts
• S.G. Tomlin
• E.H. Medlin (Chairman)

Thanks are due and acknowledgement is made to the following for their generous services:-

Peter Berry-Smith, Basil Briggs, Don Creighton, Albert Del Fabbro, Graham Elford, Alan Ewart, Maxine Ewart, David Fearnside, Oliver Fuller, Mary Genovese, Wayne Hocking, Rod Home, John Jenkin, Keith Merry, John Prescott, Pamela Runge, Peter Schebella, Arlene Shaw, Stan Tomlin, Rosemary Vasey and Susan Woodburn.  The dedication of Alan and Maxine Ewart, of Albert Del Fabbro and of Arlene Shaw is particularly acknowledged.

The Celebrations have been strongly supported by “The University of Adelaide Foundation” and our gratitude is expressed and hereby recorded.

Finally, the whole occasion has been endorsed as an Official South Australia Jubilee 150 Event. The discipline of physics is now practiced in three buildings. The main Physics Building was the first gift of a building (1926) to the University by the State Government and commemorates its Diamond Jubilee this year. The other two buildings commemorate two of our greatest scholars, namely Sir William Bragg and Sir Mark Oliphant. We are privileged to share our Celebrations not only with the comet but also with the community, which we aim to serve, and especially during this Official Event with our presentations from Professors Stephen Bragg, Frank Close, Paul Davies, Freeman Dyson and Brian Matthews.

Harry Medlin. 1 April 1986.