Jason Latimer is he a Magician or Scientist?
Jason Latimer is a world champion magician, curator of the iconic Fleet Science Center, and co-host of the Science Channel series SciJinks. Jason Latimer is a unique entertainer who
creates inspiring illusions combining science, magic, and human curiosity.
Jason’s favorite quote is “The right question, changes everything”.
He is know for many unique illusions, including SHAPING WATER (See Video Below)
Bending Light, and his unique twist on the classic cups and balls. Latimer has
attracted many scientific minds to the world of magic helping them to
embrace a very unique world of wonderment.
Jason Latimer Performing his unique
Cups & Balls Routine
Where did Magician Jason Latimer
come from?
Jason Latimer (born March 7, 1981) he is an American illusionist with a resume in multiple fields of science. After seeing his first magic show at age 9 Jason develop a hunger to learn
more about magic and what is possible and found himself consuming science books to
discover the answers.
Jason grew up not studying the traditional magic books like the Tarbell Course, that most
magicians cut their teeth on. He found himself drawn to mathematics, physics, psychology,
game theory, reading as many science books as he could get his hands on. This influence
is obvious in the illusions he performs today.
He has designed some of the most epic illusions ever created in magic including:
Bending Light
Clear Cups & Balls
Bullet Time Levitation
The Shape of Water
and many more.
Latimer is the third American in history to ever be given magic’s highest honor of being titled “The Grand Prix ‘Best Overall’ World Champion of Magic” by International Federation of Magic Societies (FISM)
The two previous American winners of the “Grand Prix” are Lance Burton in 1982 and Johnny Ace Palmer in 1988. Jason also possesses multiple “World Championship” titles and FISM awards in multiple categories of close up magic and in the invention & design.
In 2012, Jason competed on the second season of the BBC One’s television series “The Magicians (TV series)”. Each week Latimer competed against the British magic duo Barry and Stuart and British comedy magician Pete Firman in all categories of magic. The winner of each episode was determined by the British public vote. Over the course of six specials, Jason was named the season’s winner and series champion of season 2 of The Magicians.[
Jason has degrees and fields of study in Mathematics, Economics, and Applied Physics with research in multiple fields of Psychology of perception and attention from University of California Santa Barbara. So maybe he is more of a scientist than a magician? Call him
what you want, audiences just call him entertaining.
RECENT INTERVIEW WITH JASON LATIMER
Impossible Science curator Jason Latimer has a deep passion for magic and science alike, combining them in his live performances to great effect. In this exclusive snippet from our interview, Latimer explains the trick he believes has the most scientific relevance.
Which of your magic performances do you believe shows off a particularly interesting scientific prospect?
Jason Latimer: This actually comes up in the stage show. That’s funny you mention it. I always remind people, it’s the right question that changes everything. That’s how you find new cures and new technologies. You found a question that no one else has asked before.
When I set out to compete at the world championships, the reason I chose to do the “clear cups and balls” is because it’s supposedly the oldest trick in the book. Literally the oldest trick known to man, following the ball under a cup.
It was a joke to do it out of the clear cups. But I knew if you could find the right question, you could change what was possible, even if they have a 1,000 year head start, or even more.
When I first brought the cups out at the world championships, the magician audience was kind of snickering and laughing. But once the trick started going, you could hear a pin drop, because people were starting to see something they had never seen before.
That’s when you realize that’s the essence of all science. It’s a progression of questions. That was proof to me and the magic community that we ruled something out as impossible, but we didn’t have the right to do that, you know? When you think about, “What is science?” Science is just about asking questions and asking them in a logical fashion. What’s the best proof of it? Proving that even thousands of years before me, we hadn’t found all the questions yet.
This is a great philosophy for all of us to live every day by. I have heard it said, the
quality of our life is in direct proportion to the quality of questions we ask ourselves,
and then answer them truthfully.
But for me, in magic, I can mix and match questions. And mix and match the fields of science. I don’t have to tell somebody if I’m going to do physics and part mathematics and a little bit of psychology in the next illusion. I don’t have to tell anybody, I just do it. But in science, you’re supposed to stay within your field. But that’s the difference for me anyway. Magic’s like the MMA of science. Anything goes.
