Sir Oliver Lodge

Born in Staffordshire in 1851, Sir Oliver Lodge became one of the best-known British physicists of his time. He taught at University College Liverpool and later served as the first principal of the University of Birmingham, building a reputation as a gifted lecturer and public intellectual.

Lodge is best remembered for research on electricity and electromagnetic waves that contributed to the early development of radio. He worked on the coherer, an important early radio-wave detector, and his experiments and demonstrations helped make the new science of wireless communication visible to a wider audience.

He also wrote widely for general readers, especially about science, religion, and survival after death. That side of his career made him controversial as well as famous: alongside his work in physics, he became a prominent supporter of psychical research and spiritualism, which kept his name in public debate long after his laboratory achievements were established.