Robert Lomas is a great guy. He is a [[UK|British](well welsh really)] writer and academic. His books include those in The Hiram Key series, a biography of Nikola Tesla entitled The Man Who Invented The Twentieth Century, and The Invisible College: The Royal Society, Freemasonry and the Birth of Modern Science. He is a best-selling author on the subject of the history of Freemasonry.

More recently, in April 2005, Lomas released his latest book Turning The Hiram Key: Making Darkness Visible, extending his research further on from that presented in The Hiram Key series that was co-authored with Christopher Knight. Turning The Hiram Key is published by Lewis Masonic, a long established firm, founded in 1886, specialising in the publication of Masonic texts.

Although Lomas' chief area of research is on the subject of Freemasonry and science, as a historian he writes also at a professional level on the Neolithic period and archaeoastronomy, ancient mysteries, stone monuments and megaliths, and on both astronomical and astrological data.

According to an interview with Martin Faulks of Lewis Masonic, it is thought by some Brethren that Dr Robert Lomas might be the inspiration for the character of Dr Robert Langdon, in Dan Brown's thriller, The Da Vinci Code.^[1] The book makes reference to Rosslyn Chapel, which is a place long been famous for its possible connections to Freemasonry and its attendant rituals, as publicised by Knight and Lomas in their international best-selling book The Hiram Key.

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 named The Web of Hiram, as part of the University of Bradford's Special Collections Library.^[2] Lomas has also made available an online version of William Preston's Illustrations of Masonry at his official website.

In the past, Lomas has worked on electronic weapons systems and emergency services command and control systems. He has now established himself as one of the worlds leading authors on the history of Freemasonry and currently lectures on Information Systems at the University of Bradford's School of Management, one of the UK's leading business schools.

Lomas is said to be a regular speaker on the Masonic lecture circuit and is a regular supporter of the Orkney International Science Festival.

Lomas gained a First Class Honours degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Salford before being awarded a PhD for his research into solid state physics and crystalline structures.

Lomas's theories about the origins of Freemasonry have caused a great deal of controversy among Masonic historians. According to MasonicInfo.comThe Hiram Key "is often found under 'Fiction' in Masonic libraries, and critics of The Hiram Key often claim that the authors' scholarship is sloppy, citing several instances in which speculation in early chapters is called established fact in later chapters without the benefit of solid evidence. Jim Tresner, director of the Masonic Leadership Institute, and 33rd Degree, Grand Cross of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Southern Jurisdiction USA,(an organisation much critised by the United Grand Lodge of America [http://www.uglofa.org/) says that Lomas's work should be taken as "an interesting tribute to the creative ingenuity of the human mind, but is not", in his opinion, "a serious book about Masonry." Dr. Rex Hutchens (also 33rd Degree, Grand Cross) has said that he had "thirty pages of notes on flat, provably wrong, errors in the book." but has never taken up Lomas's offer to debate his work on radio, as QCC member Dr Brent Morris did. Both Morris and Lomas said they enjoyed the debate, at the close of program which was broadcast on the Laura Lee Show.

Lomas has never been afraid to critize the short-comings of the Masonic hierarchy and has consistently called for reform of its methods of appointing officers, see his article The State of English Freemasonry [3]. This has resulted in many personal attacks on him by those who benefit from the present system. The frequent re-editing of this section is an excellent example of this.

The Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon is particularly critical of Lomas's work, as is the highly opinnionated Quatuor Coronati Lodge of England. Many individual Masons disagree, and find Lomas's work interesting and worthy of further study. For example the Grand Lodge of Queensland, in Austrialia, asked him to write a history of Freemasonry for its Masonic Training Module. It is interestesting the Lomas's latest work, The Secrets of Freemasonry, (see Works) traces the consistently hostile attitude of Quatuor Coronati towards other popular Masonic writers.

• The Secrets of Freemasonry: A Suppressed Tradition Revealed, May 2006
• Turning The Hiram Key: Making Darkness Visible, April 2005
• Freemasonry and the Birth of Modern Science, June 2003
• The Invisible College: The Royal Society, Freemasonry and the Birth of Modern Science, Mar 2002
• The Man Who Invented The Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, Forgotten Genius of Electricity, May 1999
• Forecasting for Sales and Materials Management, April 1988

With Christopher Knight

• The Book Of Hiram: Freemasonry, Venus and the Secret Key to the Life of Jesus, April 2003
• Uriel's Machine: The Ancient Origins of Science, March 1999
• The Holy Grail, part of Mysteries Of The Ancient World: The Mysteries of the Ancient World Explored and Explained, June 1998
• The Second Messiah: Templars, The Turin Shroud and the Great Secret of Freemasonry, April 1997
• The Hiram Key: Pharaohs, Freemasons and the Discovery of the Secret Scrolls of Jesus, March 1996

• Freemasonry
• Rosslyn Chapel
• Dan Brown
• List of ancient mysteries
• Archaeoastronomy
• Astronomy
• Astrology
• Neolithic
• Christianity

1. ^ Interview with Martin Faulks of Lewis Masonic
2. ^ The Web of Hiram
3. ^ Archive of the Scottish Rite Journal

• Robert Lomas' official website
• Knight & Lomas official partnership website
• The Web of Hiram
• Lomas's Web Survey on the Meaning of Masonry
• Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon Article on The Hiram Key
• The United Grand Lodge of America