Bragg Exhibition: Ron visits this exhibition in the Adelaide City region of South Australia

Visit the Visualisation Centre in the Physics Building of Adelaide University and you discover the world of molecular biology.

From visual representations of the protein responsible for "foot and mouth" disease to computer models of DNA - it's amazing stuff.

Thanks to the 3-D glasses provided by the South Australian Partnership for Advanced Computing we're able to explore inner space - the molecular structure of matter. It's one of the most exciting developments in modern science with researchers now exploring the make-up of what makes us tick.

It's staggeringly complex but our understanding of this link in the chain of life which is leading to major breakthroughs in modern medicine, is due in large part to the efforts of two scientists who conducted much of their work in the Mitchell Building on North Terrace.

"The work that the Braggs were doing in the early part of the twentieth century and certainly in the 1920s more or less lead directly to the discovery of DNA in 1953," explained Professor John Carver

William Bragg was appointed professor of mathematics and physics in 1886 back when this building was the Adelaide University. His son Lawrence, who was born in Adelaide, is listed on the University's honour roll of World War One Soldiers who fought for King and Country. Lawrence would win the Military Cross but he and his father, William, would also win the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1915 for their work on X-ray crystallography.

It was a discovery that revolutionised science in the twentieth century. In a basement room of the Mitchell Building, William Bragg began his pioneering work with X-rays. In later years he and his son Lawrence trained their x-rays on a host of different crystals. The refracted patterns of light from these experiments were recorded on photographic plates. From such images the Braggs were able to recreate three-dimensional representations of the molecular structure.

Science historian Mark Pharoah likens it to recreating the image of a chandelier from the light patterns it leaves on a wall.

"All you can do is look at the light bouncing off the walls and try and understand from the light exactly what the structure of the chandelier would have been," said Mark. "Of course, it would have been impossible to visualise. This is the sort of thing that the Braggs did."

Now researchers all over use Braggs Law the world including the postgraduate students in the Uni's physics department. And yet for many of us the Bragg name and legacy is largely unknown - something that staggers the scientific community.

"We could say the same about Florey, who was another huge Adelaide person in the scientific area. You could arguably say these three men are giants of twentieth century science - no question about it."

"I think you'd have to say today that we're recognising that the Braggs are up there with the very best. Einstein is the comparison that is usually made. Both making their major breakthroughs and discoveries in the early part of the last century."

It's truly something for Adelaide to Bragg about. An exhibition featuring the Braggs' work is on display in the foyer of the South Australian Museum. The Visualisation Centre is open to the public for the duration of the Exhibition. Bookings can be made through the SA Museum.

Bragg About Adelaide Exhibition in SA Museum Foyer
12.15pm tours leave the museum foyer Monday to Friday
Exhibition ends 4 October 2005