Following a Laurea degree at the Università degli Studia di Milano and a PhD at Illinois Institute of Technology, Professor Radaelli has held posts at the Argonne National Laboratory, CNRS Grenoble, the Institute Laue-Langevin and the ISIS Facility at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. His main interest is the study of transition metal oxides displaying novel physical phenomena, such as high-temperature superconductivity, 'colossal' magneto-resistance or multiferroics behaviour, with the potential of device applications. He is now Dr Lee's Professor of Experimental Philosophy at the Clarendon Laboratory, Oxford University