Ernest Rutherford, an English radiochemist, and Frederick Soddy established the theory that radioactivity results from elemental transformation, which is now known to involve nuclear reactions. He also proved the existence of isotopes of certain radioactive elements. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1921 “for his contributions to our knowledge of the chemistry of radioactive substances and his investigations into the origin and nature of isotopes”. Soddy was a polymath who was proficient in finance, economics, statistical mechanics, chemistry, and nuclear physics.
