Science notebook in Middle Earth

How does the study of the morphology of hobbits' feet justify their reputation as 'burglars'? What characteristics does Gollum share with cave animals? What is the connection between an octopus and the tentacled creature lurking at the entrance to Moria? Animals or plants, are the Ents the only ones to display this ambiguity?

To be presented in the Biology-Chemistry-Physics Research Library from 15 November to 17 December 2021, the "Science Notebooks in Middle-earth" exhibition reveals the scientific roots of Tolkien's work. Based on ten or so themes dealt with in the book Tolkien et les sciences (ed. Belin) and illustrated with specimens from Sorbonne University's heritage collections, this exhibition blurs the lines between the imaginary and the real, as well as legend and scientific reality, and shows how the world imagined by Tolkien can be reread through the lens of numerous disciplines, from linguistics to mineralogy, from botany to archaeology.