The British Association 1896

In September just before the new season began at the Society, the British Association meeting was held in Liverpool. Early in September: “The Sub-Committee referred to reported that owing to the multitudes of meetings, public and private, to be held in connection with the British Association, it was impossible to find an evening for the projected meeting of the Society with members of the Association.”

It was unfortunate that the Society was unable to establish formal links with the British Association meeting, and it must have been a particular disappointment to Lodge, who had always set such store by the Association's activities. Still, many of the world's most distinguished scientists were present in the city in September, and Lodge had “the privilege of welcoming the [Mathematics and Physics] Section” in his lecture-theatre and laboratories.

Significant things happened at this meeting, which was one of the most important for its effect on the subsequent development of physics, in particular J. J. Thomson's discovery of the corpuscle which we now call the electron, but the items of most significance were not, of course, immediately recognised.

According to Thomson, when Kelvin, FitzGerald, and “Lodge - who was unrivalled in clear exposition – were present, one saw the BA at its best”. All three – and Thomson himself – were present at the Liverpool meeting. Lodge's interest would have been aroused when the young Ernest Rutherford spoke about his improved magnetic radio detector, which had been able to receive signals over the half-mile distance claimed as possible by Lodge but never actually tested by him.