Local Heroes

Oliver Lodge was born in 1851 in Penkhull, and was so honoured in his home city that he was made a freeman of Stoke-on-Trent.

Oliver Lodge is made a freeman of Stoke

Fame

It was at Oxford University that Oliver Lodge gave the first demonstration of the broadcasting of radio waves. He also famously invented the 'spark-plug' and was rightly called genius.

Lodge was an extraordinary scientist.
There is no doubt that he was the inventor of radio, in fact, he even won a court case against Marconi to prove it.
He was a Professor of Physics at Liverpool University when he was only 30 and later was the first Principal of Birmingham’s University College.
He published many books and was much in demand as a speaker.

In fact in 1902, he received a Knighthood from Edward VII and he received medals of recognition from the Royal Society and the Royal Society of Arts.

In 1928 Stoke on Trent, the City of his birth acknowledged his brilliant scientific work and he was made a Freeman of Stoke on Trent.

So... what went wrong, why isn't he known today for his genius?

Spiritualism

Well, some say that it is because he started to investigate what he considered to be a new area of science, but something today we might consider not just unscientific, but perhaps even beyond science.

Oliver Lodge is made a freeman of Stoke

For the second half of his life he turned his scientific brain to experimenting with 'psychic phenomena'.

From the end of the 1st World War onwards, much of society was showing an interest in spiritualism and telepathy.
Lodge along with friends, including the famous writer of the 'Sherlock Holmes' stories, Conan Doyle, held séances and sittings to try to prove that it was possible to communicate ‘from the other side’.
They recorded all the happenings and Lodge was convinced he had proved that is was possible to communicate with those who had passed over.

As we know, although this was a serious scientific study for him, history has doubted his testimony. He was on the 'wrong side' in the history of science.

Forgotten

Since then he has been forgotten and even the house where he lived is nowadays famous for a later occupant, Sir Stanley Matthews.