Harry Potter Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Harry Potter Wiki

Perpetua Fancourt (19001991) 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[]

Perpetua FancourtGBC

A younger Perpetua Fancourt

"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[]

Wiki
The Harry Potter Wiki has 5 images related to Perpetua Fancourt.

Notes and references[]

  1. "World Exclusive Interview with J K Rowling," South West News Service, 8 July 2000 - "Hogwarts just serves Britain and Ireland."
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Pottermore introduction for Ravenclaws (transcription available here)
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game)
Astronomy
Astronomy Pottermore
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
Albus Dumbledore-101-chocFrogCard
Chocolate Frog Cards
Bridget-wenlock-card-lrg
Gold cards

Armando Dippet · Albus Dumbledore · Barberus Bragge · Bertie Bott · Carlotta Pinkstone · Dzou Yen · Falco Aesalon · Godric Gryffindor · Harry Potter · Herpo the Foul · Helga Hufflepuff · Montague Knightley · Phillipus von Hohenheim · Rowena Ravenclaw · Salazar Slytherin

Silver cards

Alberic Grunnion · Alberta Toothill · Andros the Invincible · Artemisia Lufkin · Blenheim Stalk · Bowman Wright · Chauncey Oldridge · Circe · Cliodna · Crispin Cronk · Cyprian Youdle · Daisy Dodderidge · Derwent Shimpling · Donaghan Tremlett · Dunbar Oglethorpe · Dymphna Furmage · Elfrida Clagg · Felix Summerbee · Fulbert the Fearful · Gaspard Shingleton · Gideon Crumb · Glenda Chittock · Gondoline Oliphant · Gregory the Smarmy · Gwenog Jones · Honoria Nutcombe · Ignatia Wildsmith · Joscelind Wadcock · Kirley Duke · Laverne de Montmorency · Leopoldina Smethwyck · Maeve · Mirabella Plunkett · Mopsus · Morgan le Fay · Oswald Beamish · Roderick Plumpton · Sacharissa Tugwood · Thaddeus Thurkell · Wendelin the Weird · Xavier Rastrick

Bronze cards

Adalbert Waffling · Almeric Sawbridge · Archibald Alderton · Balfour Blane · Beatrix Bloxam · Beaumont Marjoribanks · Bridget Wenlock · Burdock Muldoon · Cassandra Vablatsky · Celestina Warbeck · Cornelius Agrippa · Devlin Whitehorn · Dorcas Wellbeloved · Edgar Stroulger · Elladora Ketteridge · Ethelred the Ever-Ready · Flavius Belby · Gifford Ollerton · Glanmore Peakes · Glover Hipworth · Greta Catchlove · Grogan Stump · Gulliver Pokeby · Gunhilda de Gorsemoor · Havelock Sweeting · Hengist of Woodcroft · Heathcote Barbary · Herman Wintringham · Hesper Starkey · Jocunda Sykes · Justus Pilliwickle · Merlin · Merton Graves · Merwyn the Malicious · Miranda Goshawk · Mungo Bonham · Musidora Barkwith · Myron Wagtail · Newton Scamander · Norvel Twonk · Orsino Thruston · Perpetua Fancourt · Quong Po · Roland Kegg · Stoddard Withers · Tilly Toke · Uric the Oddball · Yardley Platt

Famous Vampires cards

Blodwyn Bludd · Vlad Drakul · Amarillo Lestoat · Carmilla Sanguina · Herbert Varney

Famous Hags cards

Babayaga · Malodora Grymm · Old Mother Hubbard · Cordelia Misericordia · Leticia Somnolens

Famous Giants cards

Bran the Bloodthirsty · Cyclops · Goliath · Morholt · Hengist of Upper Barnton

Famous Goblins cards

Alguff the Awful · Eargit the Ugly · Gringott · Ug the Unreliable · Urg the Unclean

Dragon cards

Common Welsh Green · Hebridean Black · Hungarian Horntail · Norwegian Ridgeback · Romanian Longhorn

Beast cards

Billywig · Bowtruckle · Doxy · Double-ended Newt · Giant Purple Toad · Giant Squid · Gnome · Gytrash · Imp · Kelpie · Manticore · Mountain Troll · Streeler · Phoenix · Unicorn

Advertisement