Lodge, Sir Oliver Joseph

Sir Oliver Lodge(1851–1940) : Beginning in 1884, Sir Oliver Lodge was a member and at times president of England’s Society for Psychical Research and was involved in many of its investigations. A professor of physics and mathematics at University College in Liverpool, England, he was not himself particularly interested in paranormal phenomena when he joined the group, but he felt that such phenomena deserved serious, objective scientific study. He subsequently came to believe that it was possible to communicate with the dead and wrote extensively about his psychical experiences with mediums. His most notable work was The Survival of Man, a book in which he claimed to have communicated with his dead son through British medium Gladys Osbourne Leonard. Noted parapsychologist J.B. Rhine later said that this book was a major influence on his decision to go into psychical research in the 1920s; Rhine felt that if a noted scholar like Lodge could believe in such things as life after death, then they deserved serious study.

SEE ALSO:

• J.B.Rhine
• Society for Psychical Research

SOURCE:

The Greenhaven Encyclopedia of Paranormal Phenomena – written by Patricia D. Netzley © 2006 Gale, a part of Cengage Learning