 Sir William was described as the inventor of the radiometer and the vacuum tube, the discoverer of thallium, a member of the Royal Society, president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, and (according to Austin) Britain's 3rd most important scientific mind (Lord Kelvin and Wallace taking the first two spots by narrow margins).Sir William had conducted a series of experiments with noted Spiritualists and Spiritual Mediums and had also experienced many of the phenomena that Austin described, admitting them to be beyond any known natural law.These experiences had occurred during a series of highly controlled tests in Sir William's own house and in other places which could not have been tampered with.