Robert Lomas
Encyclopedia
Roberto Lomas is a British
writer
and business studies
academic. He writes primarily about the history of Freemasonry
as well as the Neolithic
period, ancient engineering and archaeoastronomy
. Lomas regularly lectures at the Orkney International Science Festival.
from the University of Salford
before being awarded a Ph.D.
for his research into solid state physics and crystalline structures.
While Lomas' chief areas of research is on the subject of Freemasonry
, he also lectures on science
. According to his website, Lomas is a regular supporter of the Orkney International Science Festival having lectured there, chaired sessions and taken part in the schools support sessions over a period of eight years. He also writes on the Neolithic
period and archaeoastronomy
, ancient mysteries, stone monuments and megaliths, and on both astronomical and astrological data.
Whilst writing The Book Of Hiram and as part of his on-going research into the cultural origin of scientific ideas, Lomas established an electronic database of Masonic material, as part of the University of Bradford
's Special Collections Library. Lomas has also made available an online version of William Preston
's Illustrations of Masonry.
In the past, Lomas has worked on electronic weapons systems and emergency services command and control systems. He currently lectures on Information Systems
at the University of Bradford
's School of Management, one of the UK's leading business schools.
have caused controversy among Masonic historians. The romantic nature of his writings are reminiscent of other famous masonic authors such as the late J. S. Ward and Arthur Edward Waite
. The Grand Lodge of British Columbia
and Yukon
is particularly critical of Lomas's work, as is Quatuor Coronati Lodge
(The lodge of research attached to the United Grand Lodge of England
), dubbing it "pseudo-history" and even "fiction". On the other hand, many Masons find Lomas's work interesting and worthy of further study. For example, the Grand Lodge of Queensland, Australia asked him to write a history of Freemasonry for its Masonic Training Module.
of Lewis Masonic
, it is thought by some freemasons that Lomas might be the inspiration for the character of Dr. Robert Langdon, in Dan Brown
's thriller, The Da Vinci Code
.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
and business studies
Business studies
Business studies is an academic subject taught at higher level in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom, as well as at university level in many countries...
academic. He writes primarily about the history of Freemasonry
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
as well as the Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
period, ancient engineering and archaeoastronomy
Archaeoastronomy
Archaeoastronomy is the study of how people in the past "have understood the phenomena in the sky how they used phenomena in the sky and what role the sky played in their cultures." Clive Ruggles argues it is misleading to consider archaeoastronomy to be the study of ancient astronomy, as modern...
. Lomas regularly lectures at the Orkney International Science Festival.
Background
Lomas gained a First Class Honours degree in Electrical EngineeringElectrical engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
from the University of Salford
University of Salford
The University of Salford is a campus university based in Salford, Greater Manchester, England with approximately 20,000 registered students. The main campus is about west of Manchester city centre, on the A6, opposite the former home of the physicist, James Prescott Joule and the Working Class...
before being awarded a Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
for his research into solid state physics and crystalline structures.
While Lomas' chief areas of research is on the subject of Freemasonry
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
, he also lectures on science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
. According to his website, Lomas is a regular supporter of the Orkney International Science Festival having lectured there, chaired sessions and taken part in the schools support sessions over a period of eight years. He also writes on the Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
period and archaeoastronomy
Archaeoastronomy
Archaeoastronomy is the study of how people in the past "have understood the phenomena in the sky how they used phenomena in the sky and what role the sky played in their cultures." Clive Ruggles argues it is misleading to consider archaeoastronomy to be the study of ancient astronomy, as modern...
, ancient mysteries, stone monuments and megaliths, and on both astronomical and astrological data.
Whilst writing The Book Of Hiram and as part of his on-going research into the cultural origin of scientific ideas, Lomas established an electronic database of Masonic material, as part of the University of Bradford
University of Bradford
The University of Bradford is a British university located in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The University received its Royal Charter in 1966, making it the 40th University to be created in Britain, but its origins date back to the early 1800s...
's Special Collections Library. Lomas has also made available an online version of William Preston
William Preston
William Preston may refer to:*William Preston , Scottish author of Illustrations of Masonry*William Preston , Irish-born frontier Virginia leader, signer of the Fincastle Resolutions...
's Illustrations of Masonry.
In the past, Lomas has worked on electronic weapons systems and emergency services command and control systems. He currently lectures on Information Systems
Information systems
Information Systems is an academic/professional discipline bridging the business field and the well-defined computer science field that is evolving toward a new scientific area of study...
at the University of Bradford
University of Bradford
The University of Bradford is a British university located in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The University received its Royal Charter in 1966, making it the 40th University to be created in Britain, but its origins date back to the early 1800s...
's School of Management, one of the UK's leading business schools.
Controversy
Lomas's theories about the origins of FreemasonryFreemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
have caused controversy among Masonic historians. The romantic nature of his writings are reminiscent of other famous masonic authors such as the late J. S. Ward and Arthur Edward Waite
Arthur Edward Waite
Arthur Edward Waite was a scholarly mystic who wrote extensively on occult and esoteric matters, and was the co-creator of the Rider-Waite Tarot deck. As his biographer, R.A...
. The Grand Lodge of British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
and Yukon
Yukon
Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in....
is particularly critical of Lomas's work, as is Quatuor Coronati Lodge
Quatuor Coronati Lodge
Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076 is a Masonic lodge in London dedicated to Masonic research. Founded in 1886, the lodge meets at Freemasons' Hall, Great Queen Street....
(The lodge of research attached to the United Grand Lodge of England
United Grand Lodge of England
The United Grand Lodge of England is the main governing body of freemasonry within England and Wales and in other, predominantly ex-British Empire and Commonwealth countries outside the United Kingdom. It is the oldest Grand Lodge in the world, deriving its origin from 1717...
), dubbing it "pseudo-history" and even "fiction". On the other hand, many Masons find Lomas's work interesting and worthy of further study. For example, the Grand Lodge of Queensland, Australia asked him to write a history of Freemasonry for its Masonic Training Module.
Inspiration of fictional work
According to an interview with Martin FaulksMartin Faulks
Martin Faulks is an English Bujinkan Ninjutsu author, publisher and prominent Freemason.- In The Media :...
of Lewis Masonic
Lewis Masonic
Lewis Masonic, founded in 1801, is the largest and oldest Masonic publisher in the World. Lewis Masonic is well known to English Freemasons, as Lewis produces many of the ritual books used by United Grand Lodge of England lodges and Holy Royal Arch Chapters...
, it is thought by some freemasons that Lomas might be the inspiration for the character of Dr. Robert Langdon, in Dan Brown
Dan Brown
Dan Brown is an American author of thriller fiction, best known for the 2003 bestselling novel, The Da Vinci Code. Brown's novels, which are treasure hunts set in a 24-hour time period, feature the recurring themes of cryptography, keys, symbols, codes, and conspiracy theories...
's thriller, The Da Vinci Code
The Da Vinci Code
The Da Vinci Code is a 2003 mystery-detective novel written by Dan Brown. It follows symbologist Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu as they investigate a murder in Paris's Louvre Museum and discover a battle between the Priory of Sion and Opus Dei over the possibility of Jesus having been married to...
.
Writing Alone
- The Invisible College- Revised Edition: Corgi (May 22, 2009).ISBN 978-0552158374
- The Secret Science of Masonic Initiation: Lewis Masonic (November 6, 2008).ISBN 978-0853183181
- Turning the Templar Key: The Secret Legacy of the Knights Templar and the Origins of Freemasonry.Fair Winds Press(October 25, 2007).ISBN 978-1592332793
- Turning the Templar Key: The Secret Legacy of the Knights Templar and the Origins of Freemasonry.Lewis Masonic(October 13, 2007).ISBN 978-0853182863
- Turning the Solomon Key: George Washington,the Bright Morning Star and the Secrets of Masonic Astrology.Fair Winds Press (September 1, 2006).ISBN 978-1592332298
- The Secrets of Freemasonry: A Suppressed Tradition Revealed.Constable and Robinson (May 4, 2006).ISBN 978-1845293123
- Turning The Hiram Key: Making Darkness Visible.Lewis Masonic (April 1, 2005).ISBN 978-0853182399
- Freemasonry and the Birth of Modern Science.Fair Winds Press (March 2003).ISBN 978-1592330119
- The Invisible College: The Royal Society, Freemasonry and the Birth of Modern Science.Headline Book Publishing (January 7, 2002).ISBN 978-0747239697
- The Man Who Invented The Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, Forgotten Genius of Electricity.Headline Book Publishing (January 1999).ISBN 978-0747275886
With Geoffrey Lancaster
- Forecasting for Sales and Materials Management.Palgrave Macmillan (April 29, 1985).ISBN 978-0333365830
With Christopher Knight
- The Book Of Hiram: Freemasonry, Venus and the Secret Key to the Life of Jesus.Element Books Ltd. (January 25, 2004).ISBN 978-0007174683
- Uriel's Machine: The Ancient Origins of Science.Century (June 10, 1999).ISBN 978-0712680073
- The Holy Grail, part of Mysteries Of The Ancient World: The Mysteries of the Ancient World Explored and Explained, June 1998. ISBN 0-297-82433-3
- The Second Messiah: Templars, The Turin Shroud and the Great Secret of Freemasonry, April 1997 ISBN 0-7126-7719-4
- The Hiram KeyThe Hiram KeyThe Hiram Key: Pharaohs, Freemasonry, and the Discovery of the Secret Scrolls of Jesus is a 1997 book by Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas...
: Pharaohs, Freemasons and the Discovery of the Secret Scrolls of Jesus.Century, London (1996).ASIN B000VZPSSS ISBN 0-72126-8579-0