Place : Italy Subject : biography, chemistry English chemist who was responsible for major advances in the early developments of radiochemistry, being mainly concerned with radioactive decay and the study of isotopes. For this work he was awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. He was also a controversial character, holding firm views - with which very few people agreed - about the relationship between science and society. Soddy was born in Eastbourne, Sussex, on 2 September 1877, the youngest of seven children. He attended Eastbourne College and became much influenced by his chemistry teacher R E Hughes, with whom he published his first scientific paper in 1894 (at the age of only 17). He went to the University College of Wales at Aberystwyth for a year after leaving school, winning an open scholarship to Merton College, Oxford, in 1895. He graduated with top honours three years later; William Ramsay was his external examiner. He spent two years doing research at Oxford, but…