Bragg attended Tilden Technical High School and Woodrow Wilson Junior College in Chicago.
[1] He earned his PhD in physics from the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1960, and worked for Palo Alto Research Laboratory for the Lockheed Missiles and Space Company from 1960 to 1969.
[2] His research was in the areas of X-ray crystallography, eutectic solidification, and the properties of carbon materials.
[2] Bragg retired from the Berkeley faculty in 1987, after a career that included service as Department Chair from 1978 to 1981.
In retirement, Bragg was awarded a Fulbright fellowship to conduct research at the University of Ife in Nigeria in 1992, and developed an exhibit for the Museum of African American Technology in Oakland.