Perpetua Fancourt (1900-1991) was a witch who is credited with the invention of the lunascope, an astronomical device used to analyse the phases of the moon.
Biography[]
Early life[]
- "Ravenclaw house has an illustrious history. Most of the greatest wizarding inventors and innovators were in our house, including Perpetua Fancourt, the inventor of the lunascope […]."
- — Robert Hilliard.[src]
Perpetua Fancourt was born in 1900,[3] somewhere in the British Isles.
In her youth, she attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from around 1911 to 1918, where she was sorted into Ravenclaw.[2]
Adulthood[]
- "It's a lunascope, old boy — no more messing around with moon charts, see?"
- — A diner at the Leaky Cauldron in 1993.[src]
After her graduation from Hogwarts School, Fancourt studied further into Astronomy, becoming an accomplished and celebrated Astronomer. Perhaps in an attempt to further the study of her area of expertise, she invented an optical device to counter the difficulty of working with moon charts, which she named lunascope.[3] Ms. Fancourt must have created it at a fairly young age, as by 1926 they were available to own.
Death and post-mortem[]
Fancourt died in 1991, aged around 91. In her honour, her achievement, the invention of the lunascope, was recorded on a Chocolate Frog Card.[3]
On 1 September 1991, Prefect Robert Hilliard welcomed the Ravenclaw first years to Ravenclaw Tower with a short speech in which he mentioned inventor Perpetua Fancourt as one of the many notable Hogwarts students who had been sorted, like them, into Ravenclaw.[2]
Magical abilities and skills[]
- Astronomy: Fancourt was a celebrated and highly accomplished professional Astronomer with much knowledge of this branch of both magic and science. She specialised in the study of moons, and even invented her own Astronomical device, the Lunascope, to help overcome the difficulty of Moon charts, a very impressive achievement in the field which gained her recognition on a Chocolate Frog Card.
Etymology[]
The name "Perpetua" is derived from Latin perpetuus meaning "continuous".
Behind the scenes[]
- Based on her year of birth, she would have been three or four years below Newt Scamander, who owned one of her Lunascopes, during their school years at Hogwarts, though it is unknown if they knew each other.
Appearances[]
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game) (Appears on a Famous Wizard Card)
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game) (Appears on a Famous Wizard Card)
- Pottermore (Mentioned only)
Notes and references[]
- ↑ "World Exclusive Interview with J K Rowling," South West News Service, 8 July 2000 - "Hogwarts just serves Britain and Ireland."
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Pottermore introduction for Ravenclaws (transcription available here)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game)
Astronomy | |||||
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Professors: Satyavati Shah · Aurora Sinistra | |||||
Astronomy at Hogwarts: Astronomy classroom · Astronomy Corridor · Astronomy Club · Astronomy department · Astronomy homework meeting · Astronomy reading room · Astronomy Room · Astronomy Stairs · Astronomy Tower | |||||
Astronomers: Aurora Sinistra · Copernicus · George von Rheticus · Perpetua Fancourt · Hesper Starkey | |||||
Objects: Astrolabe · Globe of the Moon · Lunascope · Moon chart · Orrery · Sextant · Star chart · Telescope | |||||
Planets: Jupiter · Mars · Mercury · Neptune · Pluto · Rogue planets · Saturn · Uranus · Venus | |||||
Satellites: Callisto · Europa · Ganymede · Io · Moon | |||||
Constellations: Aquila · Bartholomeus · Cetus · Crater · Dark cloud constellations · Orion · Ursa Major | |||||
Other topics: Black holes · Cosmic ages · Dark energy · Dark matter · Eclipse · Lunar phases · Meteor showers · Space weather · Wormholes |