Large Hertzian oscillator, unknown maker, England, 1890-1894. Used by Oliver Lodge in his lecture before the Royal Institution on 1 June 1894 on ‘The Work of Hertz and his Successors’.

Large Hertzian oscillator, unknown maker, England, 1890-1894. Used by Oliver Lodge in his lecture before the Royal Institution on 1 June 1894 on ‘The Work of Hertz and his Successors’.

This oscillator was used by Oliver Lodge during a lecture entitled 'The Work of Hertz and his Successors', given at the Royal Institution on 1 June 1894, and later that summer at the Royal Society and the British Institution for the Advancement of Science at its meeting in Oxford 14 August 1894. When sparks were made to pass between the sphere and the two small knobs, waves of a wavelength of about 18 centimetres were radiated. They were detected using a spring coherer placed about 40 metres away, from the library to the lecture table and through walls.