Radioactive national treasure escapes Glasgow University ‘vandals’

WHEN Scotland was faced with losing national treasures such as Canova’s statue The Three Graces and Titian’s 16th century masterpiece Diana and Callisto, campaigns were launched to keep them in the country.

To that august list can now be added a historic cache of radioactivity, which has been saved from the dump after protests from professors forced a last-minute U-turn by the University of Glasgow.

The ancient box of radium and other radioactive materials collected by the celebrated Nobel Prize-winning chemist, Frederick Soddy, had been destined for burial in a nuclear waste dump in England.

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