Stephen Bragg


Stephen Lawrence Bragg was a British engineer who was Vice Chancellor of Brunel University from 1971-81. He was the son of Lawrence Bragg and grandson of William Henry Bragg.

Early life, education and career

He was born on 17 November 1923 to Lawrence Bragg, physicist, X-ray crystallographer and Nobel Prize winner for physics and his wife Alice Grace Jenny née Hopkinson.
He studied engineering at the University of Cambridge graduating with an BA in 1945 and an MA in 1949. He went on to study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology receiving an SM in 1949. He worked for Rolls-Royce between 1951 and 1971, helping develop the Blue Streak missile, and rose to the position of chief scientist, responsible for liaison with universities.
Bragg encouraged interactions between academia and industry, and spent five years on the University Grants Committee. In 1971 he left Rolls-Royce, three days before it was declared insolvent, and became Vice Chancellor of Brunel University. In 1981 he returned to Cambridge as director of the Industrial Cooperation Unit and Fellow of Wolfson College.

Personal life

In 1951 he married Maureen Ann and they had three sons.