Making Waves: Oliver Lodge and the Cultures of Science 1875- 1940

Project Team:

Principal Investigator:

Dr James Mussell, University of Leeds

Co-Investigators: 

Professor Graeme Gooday, University of Leeds

Award Information:

This project takes one particular historical case study in order to understand disciplinary difference at a crucial moment in the past. Oliver Lodge (1851-1940) physicist, engineer, spiritualist, science popularizer and university manager was a key figure in late nineteenth and early twentieth-century culture. Today, however, he remains relatively neglected, largely because of the apparent contradictions between different aspects of his career. This research network uses these contradictions as a starting point to consider the role of the disciplines in shaping knowledge. Taking Lodge as a case study allows us to understand the place of science in his period and to learn how disciplinary boundaries continue to structure research and knowledge today.