Royal Society of South Australia represented by William Bragg at the first Australasian science meeting in 1888

William Bragg represented the Royal Society of South Australia at the first Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) council meeting in 1888.
 

William Bragg met a former Cambridge University physics colleague, Richard Threlfall, in Sydney during the 1887/88 summer to hear details of moves to form the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Nominated as representative by the Royal Society of South Australia, William was at the first AAAS council meeting in 1888. The association (later ANZAAS) modelled itself on the British association. It had 700 members already and more than 100 papers were offered.

William was optimistic about the chances that the AAAS offered for young scientists to have contact with more experienced colleagues. His own experience showed him this was especially so in Australia where young and energetic scientists were isolated locally and internationally.

The AAAS meetings proved to be an essential ingredient in William Bragg’s professional and personal development.

Electricity and magnetism was the focus of William Bragg’s early contributions to AAAS meetings: at Christchurch 1891, Hobart 1892, Adelaide 1893, Brisbane 1895 and Sydney 1898.

But the important turning point was the 1904 AAAS presidential address that William Bragg gave to Section A (astronomy, mathematics and physics) at Dunedin which marked the start of his research career. The topic was: “On some recent advances in the theory of the ionization of gases”.

At the 1907 AAAS meeting in Adelaide, William Bragg and his first research student Richard Kleeman reported their latest research results.

William Bragg took his sons Lawrence and Robert to the 1909 Brisbane meeting shortly before the family left for England. He gave the major presidential address entitled “The lessons of radioactivity”.