Physics and Psychics

The Occult and the Sciences in Modern Britain

Richard Noakes

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781107188549
• eBook ISBN: 9781316993057
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Technology & Engineering Research & Skills
• Index: Technology & Engineering

This is the first systematic exploration of the intriguing connections between Victorian physical sciences and the study of the controversial phenomena broadly classified as psychic, occult and paranormal. These phenomena included animal magnetism, spirit-rapping, telekinesis and telepathy. Richard Noakes shows that psychic phenomena interested far more Victorian scientists than we have previously assumed, challenging the view of these scientists as individuals clinging rigidly to a materialistic worldview. Physicists, chemists and other physical scientists studied psychic phenomena for a host of scientific, philosophical, religious and emotional reasons, and many saw such investigations as exciting new extensions to their theoretical and experimental researches. While these attempted extensions were largely unsuccessful, they laid the foundations of modern day explorations of the connections between physics and psychic phenomena. This revelatory study challenges our view of the history of physics, and deepens our understanding of the relationships between science and the occult, and science and religion.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title page
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Contents
• List of Figures and Tables
• Acknowledgements
• List of Abbreviations
• Introduction
• 1 New Imponderables, New Sciences
• 2 A Survey of Physical–Psychical Scientists
• 3 Physical Theories and Psychical Effects
• 4 Psychical Investigation as Experimental Physics
• 5 Expertise in Physics and Psychics
• 6 Modernising Physics and Psychics
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index