Jules Crittenden

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The $cience of Harry Potter

Boston’s Museum of $cience explain$ what it$ exhibit on the wildly popular teen wizard of Hogwart$$$ can teach kid$. Bo$ton Herald:

It’s not that the Harry Potter books aren’t educational – you can learn about the temperament of dragons, the magical powers of gillyweed and the protocol for meeting a hippogriff for the first time. But as any fan worth his Bertie Bott’s beans knows, J. K. Rowling’s series is fueled by magic.

So what’s “Harry Potter: The Exhibition” doing in the Museum of Science?

The museum defends the intellectual value of what is sure to be a cash cow of an exhibit by noting that the 200 movie props it features offer a window into innovation.

“You see these props and think, ‘How did they do that?’ It is an inspiration for people to explore what it took to create these movie worlds,” said Paul Fontaine, vice president of education at the museum.

And that inspiration is essential to scientific innovation, he says.

“When you think of the foundations of science, it is creativity; what it takes to transform fantasy to the screen. We hope people take away those foundation skills,” Fontaine said.

The museum is home to displays about DNA, electricity, astronomy and anatomy. But some area academics agree a re-creation of Hogwarts is not out of place.

Andrew Cohen, physics professor at Boston University, references popular movies in his lectures to make complex theories tangible.

So, could Hagrid’s Care of Magical Creatures class and study of hippogriffs be relevant outside Rowling’s fantasy world?

Absolutely.

“Why animals look the way they do and why there aren’t animals that look like dragons goes back to the beginning of physics. Galileo describes why animals are shaped the way they are,” Cohen said.

Yeah … that’$ it! It i$n’t about magic and fanta$y. It’$ about the $cience of making magic and fanta$y look real. Al$o, about the role human imagination doe$ not play in evolution. Pa$t exhibit$ have included “$tar War$,” which i$ technically $ci-fi rather than $cience, although it doe$ include the word “$cience” and i$ a genre that ha$ in fact accurately de$cribed future realitie$ in the pa$t. $o to $peak.

Boston Herald’s Tenley Woodman is on a roll. Here she is yesterday describing the nexus of Hollywood and Washingto DC: It’s the health-care pitch in Saw VI.

Hey, wait a minute … there’s money in Harry Potter? If the kid in your life hasn’t experienced any of that lovable, exciting wizardry yet, get yours here:

Harry Potter Paperback Boxed Set (Books 1-7)