Materials in the Movies

Appears In: King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table: Excalibur Lord of the Rings: Narsil, Anduril, and Sting Game of Thrones: Valaryan Steel Swords The Legend of Zelda: The Master Sword Harry Potter:  Gryffindor's Sword One thing that movies get wrong about real life swords is that they used to break constantly. Imagine for a moment that you are a knight fighting in your king's militia. By your side you carry your trusty sword--it's the third sword you've had since the campaign began, but it's lasted longer than the ones before it. In the distance you see an enemy knight tearing a path across the battlefield. Every swordsman who dares cross blades with the knight is swiftly left holding a hilt with a shattered stub where his sword once was, if he's lucky enough to be capable of holding anything at all. That knight's sword must be magic! Is it blessed by divine providence? Maybe. Is it made of rare ores from a far off mountain? Probably. Was it forge...

The Allure of Materials in the Movies Since discovering materials science, I have been continually surprised that it is such a small field, because when I was a kid I saw that most action movies include at least one scene where a gadget guy explains something to the effect of, "This gadget is made of a super material that makes it impervious to third act plot twists!" Even as a kid I knew that it was probably impossible to grow up to be an action hero, but I could probably manage to become a real life gadget guy. Special materials play a core role in so many different stories, from the impervious mithril armor in Lord of the Rings , to bullet-proof suits in John Wick , to the special cold-resistant metal alloy that paves the way for victory in the first Iron Man movie. I wanted to make stuff that was just as cool as what I saw in the movies, so I became a materials scientist in an attempt to do just that. Since becoming a materials scientist, I have been pleasantly surprise...