Well, we know that the Weasley twins don’t recognize anything on the list, and since older muggle technology has a way of gradually seeping into the wizarding world, it’s not likely to be anything developed too recently. It also probably isn’t something that an Oxford professor would be able to obtain inconspicuously, or else Harry would probably just ask his father. (Though it still might be something his father could obtain at the cost of drawing attention to himself, and Harry just doesn’t want anyone to guess that said purchase was really for him.) Anything electronic is unlikely, as we’ve seen no foreshadowing that Harry has invented a way to make electronics work near magic. So I looked through some timelines of important inventions, starting with the 1920′s, for anything that might be remotely useful for a young magical inventor to have. My results:
Tommy guns,
lie detector machines,
jetpacks,
polaroids,
radar,
photocopiers,
LSD,
teflon,
electron Microscopes,
slinkies,
silly Putty,
submachine guns,
nuclear weapons,
velcro,
rocket-Propelled Grenades,
super Glue,
various antibiotics,
fiber optics,
lasers,
halogen Lamps,
kevlar,
high-temperature superconductors,
various chemical weapons and poisons,
Harry mentions that someone would likely have to go out of the country to obtain some of the items on his list. The only items on my list which would be difficult to obtain on short notice in Britain would be weapons and body armor, owing to strict UK gun laws; this makes it likely that Harry is looking for weaponry. Can anyone else think of a non-electronic 20th century muggle invention that would be difficult to obtain in the UK but not overseas?
Well, we know that the Weasley twins don’t recognize anything on the list, and since older muggle technology has a way of gradually seeping into the wizarding world, it’s not likely to be anything developed too recently. It also probably isn’t something that an Oxford professor would be able to obtain inconspicuously, or else Harry would probably just ask his father. (Though it still might be something his father could obtain at the cost of drawing attention to himself, and Harry just doesn’t want anyone to guess that said purchase was really for him.) Anything electronic is unlikely, as we’ve seen no foreshadowing that Harry has invented a way to make electronics work near magic. So I looked through some timelines of important inventions, starting with the 1920′s, for anything that might be remotely useful for a young magical inventor to have. My results:
Tommy guns, lie detector machines, jetpacks, polaroids, radar, photocopiers, LSD, teflon, electron Microscopes, slinkies, silly Putty, submachine guns, nuclear weapons, velcro, rocket-Propelled Grenades, super Glue, various antibiotics, fiber optics, lasers, halogen Lamps, kevlar, high-temperature superconductors, various chemical weapons and poisons,
Harry mentions that someone would likely have to go out of the country to obtain some of the items on his list. The only items on my list which would be difficult to obtain on short notice in Britain would be weapons and body armor, owing to strict UK gun laws; this makes it likely that Harry is looking for weaponry. Can anyone else think of a non-electronic 20th century muggle invention that would be difficult to obtain in the UK but not overseas?