A new method for the contactless measurement of the electrical conductivity of high temperature aerodynamically levitated materials is presented. The apparatus, based on an oscillating coil system, improves considerably on previously reported static coil techniques by eliminating the large errors introduced by temperature drifts in the measurement system. With this system we demonstrate that accurate and fast measurements can be made for liquid metals and semiconductors with conductivities in the range 10 4 −10 7 −1 m −1 . Measurements of of liquid Ge as a function of temperature have been made to demonstrate the reliability of the method and give = 1.52± 0.03 10 6 −1 m −1 at 1250 K in good agreement with previous measurements. The speed and precision of the apparatus will allow new studies of the electrical properties of high temperature liquids and glasses including precise observations of melting and glass transitions under quenching conditions. © 2006 American Institute of Physics.