Sir Oliver Joseph Lodge (12 June 1851 – 22 August 1940) was an English physicist and electrical engineer who studied electromagnetic radiation (EMR), which helped develop radio technology. He discovered EMR on his own, separate from Heinrich Hertz's work. In his 1894 Royal Institution lecture, The Work of Hertz and Some of His Successors, Lodge demonstrated methods to transmit and detect radio waves. He created an improved early radio receiver, which he called the coherer. His research led to him holding important patents in early radio communication, including his "syntonic" (or tuning) patents.

Lodge became an assistant professor of applied mathematics at Bedford College in London in 1879. He was appointed professor of physics at University College Liverpool in 1881 and served as principal of the University of Birmingham from 1900 to 1919.

Lodge also studied spiritualism, a belief in life after death. He wrote many books about his research, including the popular Raymond; or, Life and Death (1916). In this book, he described messages he received from a medium, which he believed came from his son, who died in the First World War.

Early life

Oliver Joseph Lodge was born on June 12, 1851, in Penkhull, Staffordshire. He attended Adams Grammar School in Newport, Shropshire. His parents were Oliver Lodge (1826–1884), who later became a ball clay merchant in Wolstanton, Staffordshire, and Grace Heath (1826–1879). Lodge was their first child, and the family had eight sons and one daughter. His siblings included Sir Richard Lodge (1855–1936), a historian; Eleanor Constance Lodge (1869–1936), a historian and principal of Westfield College in London; and Alfred Lodge (1854–1937), a mathematician.

When Lodge was 12 years old, his family moved to Wolstanton. At Moreton House on the southern end of Wolstanton Marsh, he used a large outbuilding for his first scientific experiments during long school breaks.

In 1865, when Lodge was 14 years old, he left school and joined his father’s business, Oliver Lodge & Son, as an agent for B. Fayle & Co. His work involved selling Purbeck blue clay to pottery manufacturers, and this sometimes required him to travel as far as Scotland. He helped his father with this work until he turned 22.

By the time Lodge was 18 years old, his father’s increasing wealth allowed the family to move to Chatterley House in Hanley. From there, Lodge attended physics lectures in London and also studied at the Wedgwood Institute in Burslem. At Chatterley House, near Etruria Hall—where Wedgwood had once conducted experiments—Lodge’s Autobiography noted that he began serious experimentation around 1869. The family moved again in 1875 to Watlands Hall, located on Porthill Bank between Middleport and Wolstanton. Watlands Hall was later demolished in 1951.

Lodge earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of London in 1875 and a Doctor of Science degree in 1877.

Career and research

In 1879 and 1880, Lodge in Wolstanton tested a new type of "electromagnetic light," which helped later experiments succeed. During this time, he also taught at Bedford College in London. In 1881, Lodge left the Potteries to become Professor of Physics and Mathematics at the newly created University College Liverpool.

In 1900, Lodge returned to the Midlands and became the first Principal of the newly founded University of Birmingham. He stayed there until he retired in 1919. He helped move the university from Edmund Street in the city center to its current Edgbaston campus.

In 1873, James Clerk Maxwell published A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism. By 1876, Lodge was studying this work carefully. However, Lodge had limited training in mathematical physics, so his early papers described a mechanical model using strings and pulleys to explain electrical concepts like conduction and polarization. Lodge is best known for promoting Maxwell’s aether theory, an idea that later fell out of favor. He wrote about his views on the aether in Modern Views of Electricity (1889) and continued to support the theory into the 20th century in Ether and Reality (1925).

As early as 1879, Lodge became interested in creating and detecting electromagnetic waves, a concept Maxwell had not explored. His progress slowed due to challenges. First, he focused on high-frequency light waves instead of low-frequency radio waves. Second, his friend George FitzGerald incorrectly told Lodge that "ether waves could not be generated electromagnetically." FitzGerald later corrected this, but by 1881, Lodge had started teaching at University College Liverpool, which limited his research time.

In 1887, the Royal Society of Arts asked Lodge to lecture on lightning, including why lightning rods sometimes failed. Lodge tested this by discharging Leyden jars into copper wires. He found that electrical charge took a shorter, high-resistance path through a spark gap instead of a longer, low-resistance path through a copper loop. In May 1888, Lodge presented these findings, explaining how inductance might affect lightning’s path.

That spring and summer, Lodge placed spark gaps along two 29-meter-long wires and observed large sparks near the ends, suggesting electromagnetic waves were being produced. In a dark room, he saw light at intervals along the wires, which he interpreted as evidence of electromagnetic waves. While vacationing in the Tyrolean Alps in July 1888, Lodge read in Annalen der Physik that Heinrich Hertz had proven electromagnetic waves existed. Lodge later presented his own research on electromagnetic waves at a British Science Association meeting in September 1888, acknowledging Hertz’s work.

In the 1890s, Lodge studied the aether drag hypothesis. He built "whirling machines" with rotating metal disks to test if the aether could be dragged. He used light and interference patterns to detect this but found no evidence of aether drag.

On June 1, 1894, Lodge gave a memorial lecture on Hertz’s work at the Royal Institution. He demonstrated how "Hertzian waves" (radio waves) reflected and transmitted like light. Later that year, Lodge increased the transmission distance to 55 meters using a coherer, a device invented by Edouard Branly. The coherer detected radio waves by making metal filings conductive. Lodge used a mirror galvanometer to show signals visually. After each signal, the filings were separated by a vibrator or a bell. This experiment occurred a year before Guglielmo Marconi’s 1895 wireless telegraphy demonstration, leading to later disputes over who invented radio. Some, like John Ambrose Fleming, argued Lodge’s work was a physics experiment, not a telegraphy system. Lodge later collaborated with Alexander Muirhead on wireless telegraphy devices.

In January 1898, Lodge presented a paper on "syntonic" tuning, a method to match frequencies in wireless communication. He patented this idea in 1898. The Marconi Company had a similar system, leading to disputes over radio’s invention. In 1912, Marconi bought Lodge’s patent and gave him an honorary position as "scientific adviser."

In 1886, Lodge developed the moving boundary method to measure ion transport numbers in solutions. He also studied the electromotive force in Voltaic cells, electrolysis, and the use of electricity to disperse fog and smoke. Lodge patented an electric spark ignition system for internal combustion engines (the Lodge Igniter). His sons later developed this idea, founding Lodge Bros, which became Lodge Plugs Ltd. Lodge also discovered methods for wireless transmission and patented a moving-coil loudspeaker in 1898, using a coil connected to a diaphragm.

Paranormal investigations

Sir Oliver Lodge is known for his studies in psychical research and spiritualism. He began studying psychic phenomena, especially telepathy, in the late 1800s. He was a member of The Ghost Club and served as president of the London-based Society for Psychical Research from 1901 to 1903. After his son, Raymond, died in World War I in 1915, Lodge visited mediums and wrote about his experiences in books, including Raymond; or, Life and Death (1916). He was friends with Arthur Conan Doyle, who also lost a son in World War I and believed in spiritualism.

Lodge was a Christian Spiritualist. In 1909, he published Survival of Man, which argued that life after death had been proven through mediumship. His most controversial book was Raymond; or, Life and Death (1916). This book described séances he and his wife attended with medium Gladys Osborne Leonard. Lodge believed his son Raymond communicated with him through these séances, and the book detailed Raymond’s experiences in the spirit world. According to the book, the spirit world had houses, trees, and flowers, similar to Earth, but without disease. The book also claimed that soldiers who died in World War I smoked cigars and drank whisky in the spirit world, which led to criticism. Walter Cook wrote a rebuttal titled Reflections on Raymond (1917), challenging Lodge’s spiritualist beliefs.

Although Lodge believed the spirit control "Feda" communicated with his son, he admitted much of the information was incorrect and suggested Feda learned it from a séance participant. Philosopher Paul Carus criticized the book, calling its revelations "silly" and noting that Lodge, a respected scientist, had published it.

Lodge’s scientific work on electromagnetic radiation led him to believe in the existence of an invisible substance called "ether," which he thought filled the universe. He believed the spirit world existed in this ether. As a Christian Spiritualist, he interpreted the Bible’s description of Christ’s resurrection as referring to Christ’s etheric body becoming visible after the Crucifixion. By the 1920s, the theory of relativity had challenged the idea of ether, but Lodge defended his belief, arguing it was compatible with general relativity. Lodge also promoted a theory of spiritual evolution in books like Man and the Universe (1908) and Making of Man (1924). He gave lectures on theistic evolution at Charing Cross Hospital and Christ Church, Westminster, which were published in Evolution and Creation (1926).

Historian Janet Oppenheim noted that Lodge’s interest in spiritualism caused some scientists to question his judgment. In 1913, biologist Ray Lankester criticized Lodge’s spiritualist views as unscientific and misleading. Edward Clodd called Lodge an incompetent researcher who relied on "magical thinking" and superstition. Psychiatrist Charles Arthur Mercier wrote in Spiritualism and Sir Oliver Lodge (1917) that Lodge was tricked by mediums and that his beliefs were based on assumptions, not scientific evidence. Francis Jones, in a review of The Survival of Man, stated Lodge’s psychical claims were not scientific and the book ignored research from experimental psychology.

Magician John Booth noted that stage mentalist David Devant tricked people into believing he had psychic powers. At St. George’s Hall, London, Devant performed a fake "clairvoyant" act by reading a sealed message. Lodge, who attended the event, believed Devant used psychic abilities. In 1936, Devant revealed the trick in his book Secrets of My Magic.

Lodge supported a clairvoyant medium named "Annie Brittain," who incorrectly guessed details about a disguised policeman. She was arrested and convicted for fraudulent fortune-telling. Joseph McCabe wrote a skeptical book titled The Religion of Sir Oliver Lodge (1914), criticizing Lodge’s spiritualist beliefs.

Personal life and death

In 1877, Lodge married Mary Fanny Alexander Marshall at St. George's Church in Newcastle-under-Lyme. They had twelve children—six boys and six girls—including Oliver, Alexander (Alec), Francis, Lionel, and Noel. Four of his sons used Lodge's inventions in their businesses. Brodie and Alec started the Lodge Plug Company, which made spark plugs for cars and airplanes. Lionel and Noel created a company in 1913 that made a machine using electricity to clean smoke from factories and smelters. The company was first called the Lodge Fume Deposit Company Limited, then renamed Lodge Fume Company Limited in 1919, and later changed to Lodge Cottrell Ltd in 1922 after an agreement with the International Precipitation Corporation of California. Oliver, the oldest son, became a poet and writer.

After retiring in 1920, Lodge and his wife moved to Normanton House, near Lake in Wiltshire, a few miles from Stonehenge.

Lodge died on August 22, 1940, in Wilsford cum Lake at the age of 89. His wife, Mary, died before him in 1929. They are buried together at the local church, St. Michael's, in Wilsford cum Lake, Wiltshire. Their oldest son, Oliver, and oldest daughter, Violet, are also buried at the church.

His obituary in The Times wrote:

Commemoration

Oliver Lodge Primary School in Vanderbijlpark, South Africa, is named after him. In Liverpool, a bronze statue named "Education" honors Lodge and is located at the base of the Queen Victoria Monument. Additionally, the Oliver Lodge Building in Liverpool is home to the physics department of the University of Liverpool.

Lodge archives

After Oliver Lodge died, his letters and papers were separated and stored in different places. Some were placed at the University of Birmingham and the University of Liverpool, while others were kept at the Society for Psychical Research and University College London. Lodge lived a long life and wrote many letters. Additional letters and papers from him are also found in the personal collections of other individuals and in the archives of several other universities and institutions. The following are some known collections of his work:

• The University of Birmingham Special Collections has over 2000 letters and papers from Lodge. These include letters to family members, colleagues at Birmingham and Liverpool Universities, and communications with religious, political, and literary figures. The collection also contains Lodge’s diaries, photographs, newspaper clippings related to his scientific research, and scripts of his published works. An additional 212 letters from Lodge, dated between 1881 and 1939, have been added to the collection over time.
• The University of Liverpool holds some of Lodge’s notebooks and letters. The university also has a laboratory named after him, which is the main office location for most physics department staff and researchers.
• University College London Special Collections has 1991 letters and papers from Lodge, dated between 1871 and 1938.
• The Society for Psychical Research holds 2710 letters that were written to Oliver Lodge.
• The Devon Record Office has letters written by Lodge to Sir Thomas Acland, dated between 1907 and 1908.
• The University of Glasgow Library holds letters written by Lodge to William Macneile Dixon, dated between 1900 and 1938.
• The University of St Andrews has twenty-three letters written by Lodge to Wilfrid Ward, dated between 1896 and 1908.
• Trinity College Dublin is the keeper of Lodge’s letters exchanged with John Joly.
• Imperial College, London Archives holds nineteen letters written by Lodge to his fellow scientist, Silvanus Thompson.
• The London Science Museum has an early notebook from Lodge dated 1880, letters from Lodge dated between 1894 and 1913, and a paper on atomic theory.

Publications

Lodge wrote over 40 books on the afterlife, aether, relativity, and electromagnetic theory.