The Dr Lees Chair and Old Chemistry

It had also gone unnoticed that Soddy s attempts to secure radioactive materials for research, from the Imperial and Foreign Corporation of London in 1921, were doused with cold water by Lewis Farnell, the Vice-Chancellor, so a rare opportunity was lost. In autumn 1921 the Corporation, to which Soddy was scientific advisor, projected a laboratory in England to house radium. Soddy wanted this laboratory to be located in Oxford and, given his unsuitable accommodation, in a separate building for which the Corporation would partly 

The Old Chemistry Department under Soddy was different from the Dyson Perrins under Perkin and Robinson in that the professor and senior demonstrators were not leaders of research groups or innovative solo researchers. These roles were filled in the 1930s by H. W. Thompson, fellow of St John s and 

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