IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2022 - 17

world during the first 35 years of his life before retirement
in 1919, which were markedly different from
his writing after retirement. Lodge began his venture
into the psychical world in 1884 with the stated
objective " to apply the methods of the sciences to
a host of obscure psychological and psychophysical
phenomena, " most of which are now considered to
be occult-thought reading (telepathy), telekinesis,
apparitions, spiritual mediums, and even haunted
houses. He was definitely not a psychic popularizer
in the early days because he wrote most of his articles
for pamphlets and journals that circulated privately,
such as the Journal of the Society for Psychical
Research (SPR), which clearly stated in its front matter:
" For Private Circulation Among Members and
Associates Only. "
Bernard Lightman introduces Lodge as the
" retiring popularizer " in his essay, beginning with
an impressive list of books that he wrote in the
1920s-many going into multiple editions. He claims
that Lodge's main concern in these books was " to
educate his target audience about the larger metaphysical
and religious meanings of contemporary
scientific theories. " The remaining chapters of the
book attempt to put a positive spin on the interactions
between science and the psychical world.
No matter what the spin, the problem is that Lodge
tried to spiritualize the ether, and he tried to explain
the supernatural-such as communicating with the
dead-in scientific terms.
Returning to my comment about a superficial
treatment of Lodge's earlier scientific activities,
the authors point out that Lodge was " a pioneer in
the invention of wireless communication " and that
his activity in this area contributed greatly to the
increase in his reputation that happened during the
last decade of the 19th century. So, it is surprising
that there is so little said about these contributions,
and worse yet, much of what is said is not accurate.
For example, the authors make this plain vanilla
statement about his invention of wireless communication:
" Lodge was sure to register his contribution
to the development of wireless in his autobiography
Past Years, stating clearly that he demonstrated the
potential for his equipment to be used for signaling
at the 1894 British Association Meeting (and so two
years before Marconi appeared on the scene). " What
they did not say is that Lodge wrote in Past Years that
he actually sent telegraphic messages at the Oxford
meeting in 1894:
September 2022
" When the key was only momentarily depressed, a
short series of waves was emitted, and the spot of
light then suffered a momentary deflection. These
long and short signals obviously corresponded to
the dashes and dots of Morse code; and thus it was
easy to demonstrate signaling of some letters of
the alphabet, so that they could be read by any
telegraphist in the audience-some of whom may
now remember that they did so. "
Despite the fact that there was no documentary
evidence that Lodge transmitted Morse code signals
at this meeting in Oxford, no fewer than six authoritative
British historians in the past 50 years believed
Lodge's statement and wrote in their respective history
books that he was the first to demonstrate wireless
telegraphy, at Oxford. In fact, one of the authors
of this book, Peter Rowlands, also authored Oliver
Lodge and the Invention of Radio in 1994 containing
the following assertion:
The reason for the change is two-fold: First the
statement is not an endorsement, it is an assertion.
Second, while Rolands was the principal
author of the book Oliver Lodge and the Invention
of Radio, it was another author of this book that
actually made the assertion in this book. (I really
meant that Rolands endorsed it by allowing it to
appear in his book, but doesn't come out that way
in the existing text)
" In 1894 Lodge made the first public demonstration
of wireless telegraphy; of this scientific and
historical fact there can be no doubt. "
But in reality, there has been much doubt and
controversy for many years over whether or not
Lodge sent telegraphic signals at Oxford. The most
recent and detailed assessment of Lodge's alleged
invention of wireless telegraphy was undertaken by
Sungook Hong in his notable book, Wireless, published
in 2001, in which he concluded:
" On the basis of various pieces of textual evidence,
the assertion that Lodge transmitted and received
alphabetic signals does not appear to be true. The
claim to the contrary was forged after 1897 as an
'antidote to Marconism.' "
None of this well-documented history is even
mentioned in the book. Also not mentioned is the historical
fact that Lodge admitted in sworn testimony
in 1906 that he did not send telegraphic messages in
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IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2022

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