James Lovelock’s inventions notebook

Notebook with handwritten notes, containing a variety of invention ideas, by James Lovelock, no date. Includes diagrams for a ‘heat of absorption detector’ and ‘gas tank sensor’, interspersed with some more playful ideas such as a ‘Dalek destroyer’. The notebook is a narrow spiral bound notebook; modern paper; ballpoint pen ink and pencil .

Scientist and inventor James Lovelock says that he does his best thinking at about 05.00. After breakfast he would attempt to build his idea in the lab, sometimes working out his design first on paper, as shown in these examples. The ‘Dalek Destroyer’ is one of the more surprising and humorous examples of Lovelock’s creative thinking, allowing users to blank areas of their TV screens.