6 - Modernising Physics and Psychics

Summary

Chapter Six examines the trajectory of physical-psychical scientists in the early twentieth century.By 1900 the network of physical-psychical scientists was weaker because many had died or were too old or busy to commitment themselves to new experimental enquiries. Those strongly committed to psychical research tended to explore connections between physics and psychics via writing rather than new experiments.The writing of Lodge, Barrett, Kingsland and others explored the connections between psychical research and modern developments in physics and religion.Many thought that Lodge’s connections went too far while others did not think the connections went far enough.Among those who sought to transcend Lodge wereprofessional and amateur radio enthusiasts, and psychical researchers, and a younger generation of psychical researchers who believed relativity and quantum theories was more effective than older, mainly ether-based physics, at rendering psychical effects plausible.