Bray, William C. (William Crowell), 1879-1946

Biographical Sketch

William Crowell Bray was born September 2, 1879 in Wingham, Ontario, Canada. Graduated from the University of Toronto in 1902 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, he received a travelling fellowship which he spent in Germany doing graduate work in chemistry under Professor Robert Luther at the University of Leipzig and received his Ph.D. in 1905.

He moved to the United States and worked as a research associate in physical chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under Professor Arthur A. Noyes from 1905 to 1910, and from 1910 to 1912 he was assistant professor of physico-chemical research.

In 1912 he moved to Berkeley, California to accept the position of assistant professor of chemistry at the University of California. He was naturalized in 1913 and in 1914 married Nora Thomas. He became professor of chemistry in 1918, a position which he held until he was forced to resign in 1945 due to ill health.

During World War I he directed research at the Experimental Station, American University, Washington, D.C. and in 1919 was associate director of the Fixed Nitrogen Research Laboratory. He was, also, chairman of the Department of Chemistry from March 1943 to March 1, 1945. A heart attack late in 1945 immobilized him and after seeming improvement he was suddenly and fatally stricken on February 24, 1946.

His research covered the kinetics of inorganic reactions, especially involving compounds of the halogens and the mechanism of inorganic oxidation-reduction reactions in aqueous solutions.

From the guide to the William Crowell Bray Papers, 1890-1945, (The Bancroft Library)