Posted on 09/28/2001 7:45:28 AM PDT by Cagey
STORRS, Conn. -- A University of Connecticut theoretical physics professor is working on the key to traveling back in time. According to Ronald Mallett, the solution is simpler than traveling through a rotating black hole or an unstable wormhole.
"I have been focused on creating a time machine ever since I was 10 years old, when my father died from a heart attack at the age of 33," Mallett said. "Ever since then, it has been my goal to construct a time machine to go back and warn my father of what is about to happen to him."
Mallett's theory uses laser light that is forced to circulate in one continuous loop by using mirrors or fiber optics. In the center a single spinning particle would be placed, such as a neutron. The particle would be dragged around in empty space and moving it away from the center could send it into the past.
According to Mallett, the device could create an effect that would be similar to stirring cream into a cup of coffee. The disturbance created in the coffee by stirring is similar to the effects created by Mallett's laser device.
"The theory is that when the machine is turned on and runs for a day, a person can step into the machine and return to the day before," Mallett said. "Hence, a person can travel back from the future to any time in the past, but not past before the time machine was turned on."
"[Mallett's theory] is perfectly consistent [with Einstein's Theory of General Relativity], but if someone will be able to do it experimentally is another thing. It could be too hard to do. It could only work in physics or chemistry labs, but not on a life-size level, which is often the case," David Markowitz, a physics professor, said.
"The bottom line is that Mallett has found an exact solution to Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. He and others are trying to understand the consequences of his theory and I am trying to understand it myself," Winthrop Smith, a physics professor, said.
"It is an exciting theoretical development, but I am skeptical about any practical developments in the short run, but this does not mean that we should not work on it," Smith said.
Smith said it could be practical if someone comes up with a clever idea to modify the current design to make it cheaper to develop for experimentation.
According to William Stwalley, the head of the physics department, members of the Ultracold research group have been able to slow light down to the speed of a bike, which could make development of a Mallett device more practical than before.
"No experiments are definitely planned for this year, but I would not be surprised that there would be one by the end of the year," Stwalley said.
Under the currently defined rules of the universe, Mallett cannot travel back in time to save his father. He will continue to search for a way to travel through time, and the physics staff and students at UConn will be controlling the research for this new theory.
"I find all this new work quite exciting," Mallet said. "Being able to alter the past is a powerful tool and there are severe moral implications related to changing the past. I wonder if the people of the future will use time travel to alter their past, our present."
Seriously, though. If the rescuers had a few of these at WTC, there might have been more survivors: the wreckage would be cleared faster.
Is it possible that the Clinton's really are from the future?
"When I was a fetus, I used to sneak out at night...."
The guy is hilarious!!!
The End of Eternity by Asimov.
I've good a good grip on the past and have no interest in going back. But I'd LOVE to see what the FUTURE holds. Am I the only one?
Michael
The key here is "perceive" when in fact we know it to be a variable based on speed.
Some other nice paradoxs of time travel were written into the Terminator movies.
At least that how it's been explained to me a-la relativity, it all makes my head hurt.
Way out..WAY OUT..that's where the fun is Way out...WAY OUT..that's where the fun is WAY OUT!
Found it, it's a little more in depth.
you can find it at
http://www.ctnow.com/scripts/editorial.dll?render=y&eetype=Article&eeid=4954446&ck=&ver=3.0
Even if a person could travel back in time, if he/she tries to prevent an event, it causes alterations in the "time-line" between that point and the current time from which he/she came from. This creates contradictory situations like this simple example:
Person C goes back in time to prevent event D. In the process, he prevents person A (dad) and person B (mom) from ever meeting and producing person C (time traveler). Therefore, person C never existed to prevent event D.
Perhaps if time was altered so that EVERYONE goes back in time, that would be more plausible. However, it is still science-fiction as "do-overs" do not exist in real life.
If by chance I am wrong, I doubt either of us will be alive to see it, but be sure to look me up and say I was wrong in any reversed timelines.
SIGN ME UP!!!!!!!!!!
I need a good new place to sit...
As long as you don't go back in time with the idea of being a matchmaker, it'll all be okay!
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