Guido Reuther, a physics professor at HTWK, captivated the audience at the Science Cinema on 10 December 24 by analysing scenes from James Bond films
James Bond is famous for his spectacular action scenes. Take, for example, the legendary chase from the film *GoldenEye*, in which the secret agent plunges down a cliff in the Swiss Alps to catch up with a plane in free fall. But is that realistic, or was special effects used here? – “Theoretically, it’s possible,” says Guido Reuther, Professor of Applied Physics at the Leipzig University of Applied Sciences (HTWK Leipzig). At least if Bond’s body were 32 times more aerodynamic than the aeroplane itself.
At the Science Cinema event on 10 December 2024 at the Forum for Contemporary History in Leipzig, Reuther showed the approximately 180 visitors – young and old alike – three further action scenes from James Bond films and analysed the physics behind them together with the audience. “Above all, I want to show young people that physics is neither difficult nor incomprehensible,” said Reuther.
James Bond scenes feature in the lectures too
Reuther usually discusses action scenes from James Bond films in his lectures at HTWK Leipzig: there, he is responsible, amongst other things, for the courses on the fundamentals of physics for prospective engineers in their first and second semesters. He uses examples from films to liven up the theoretical lessons and make them more vivid. In 2023, Reuther was awarded the university’s first teaching prize for his first-class teaching methods.
Reuther was inspired by Metin Tolan: Tolan was Professor of Experimental Physics at Dortmund Technical University until 2021 and is currently President of the University of Göttingen. He has written various books, such as *The Physics of Star Trek* and *Titanic: Sinking with Physics*. Reuther chose examples from James Bond films because Bond is better known than MacGyver, who was popular during Reuther’s student days and, much like Bond, used ingenious inventions to save himself from precarious situations in the 1980s and 1990s action series.
Solutions using formulas and calculations
Interesting gadgets and other tools are developed for James Bond by ‘Q’. Q is the head of the fictional research and development department of the British secret service. One gadget that was once voted a favourite, for example, was the magnetic watch featured in the 1973 film *Live and Let Die*. In the scene shown, Bond used it to steal his boss’s coffee spoon and to open the zip on a woman’s dress. In dicey situations, however, the watch was supposed to deflect bullets from a distance of several metres.
Reuther also compared such effects – which, according to the film, are supposedly possible with the watch’s electromagnets – to everyday examples familiar to everyone. In this case, an MRI scan, which also utilises a strong magnetic field. Whilst Q delved deep into his bag of tricks for his inventions, HTWK Professor Reuther used formulas and calculations during the Science Cinema event to demonstrate how many an action scene really ought to have played out.
The scenes and accompanying explanations repeatedly left the audience in awe, precisely because some of the particularly spectacular stunt scenes would be physically possible. And there were plenty of questions, especially from die-hard James Bond fans who wanted to know the finer details.
To round off the session, Reuther got to the bottom of what is probably the most famous question: why does James Bond drink his vodka martini shaken, not stirred? Here, too, additional information caused a murmur to ripple through the hall: who would have thought that this question had even been discussed in detail in a scientific paper? According to the paper, shaking a vodka martini binds the free, harmful radicals more effectively than stirring the cocktail. Another explanation, not meant entirely seriously, is provided by the Brazil nut effect, also known as the muesli effect. Shaking causes the large flavour molecules to rise to the top, whilst the small alcohol molecules accumulate at the bottom of the glass. Or, in short: for James Bond, this means he can enjoy the flavour without getting drunk, because, after all, a secret agent like him must always be ready for action in the fight against evil.
Next event
The next screening as part of ‘Wissenschaftskino’, the film and discussion series organised by Leipzig’s scientific institutions, will take place on 4 February 2025: the film *Die Unerhörten* will be shown at the Zeitgeschichtliches Forum Leipzig. Admission is free.
