Plaque honours town's Nobel Prize scientist

A green plaque has been unveiled in Market Harborough, to commemorate a Nobel Prize winner who lived in the town.

Sir William Henry Bragg won the Nobel Prize in 1915 for Physics.

It was a rare joint win that he shared with his son William Lawrence Bragg, who was born in Australia while his father was a professor at the University of Adelaide.

The duo had used the new X-ray technology to analyse the structure of crystals. Sir William was raised by his uncle in Market Harborough after his mother died when he was seven. The family lived in Catherwood House on The Square, now a branch of coffee shop chain Caffe Nero.

Sir William was educated in the Old Grammar School in the town, and then at Cambridge University.

After returning from Australia, he worked in British universities.

Sir William’s grand-daughters Lady Lucy Adrian and Jane Page attended last Thursday’s plaque ceremony.

Leicestersgire County councillor Peter Lewis said: “William Henry Bragg’s contribution to science has been recognised worldwide.

“We honour this eminent scientist in the county where he spent his early life, and just over 100 years after he was awarded the Nobel Prize.”