Frederick Soddy

Frederick Soddy was a pioneering radiologist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1921 for his work on radioactive substances. He also gained recognition for his outspoken opinions on the value of science.

In 1900, early in his scientific career, Frederick joined Ernest Rutherford, the father of nuclear physics, in Montreal, Canada, to undertake pioneering work. Together their work revolutionised our understanding of radioactivity. On his return to Britain, Frederick initially took up a post at the University of Glasgow where he made his Nobel Prize-winning discovery of isotopes, stating that certain elements exist in two or more forms which have different atomic weights but are chemically identical.

Frederick came to the University of Aberdeen as Chair of Chemistry in 1914 at the outbreak of the First World War, and made his chemical expertise available for war-related projects. It was during his time at Aberdeen that his focus shifted from scientific to social issues and he became an outspoken protagonist, writing papers on economic, social and political theories. Although dismissed at the time, his work has since become influential in ecological economics particularly in relation to recognising that limits needed to be applied to the world’s resources.