By Neil Bowdler BBC News, science reporter From HG Wells to the latest Big Brother challenge, time travel has sparked the popular imagination. Now, an American scientist has broken his silence about his dream of time travel, with a book documenting his life-long struggle to build a time machine.
By Neil Bowdler BBC News, science reporter From HG Wells to the latest Big Brother challenge, time travel has sparked the popular imagination. Now, an American scientist has broken his silence about his dream of time travel, with a book documenting his life-long struggle to build a time machine.
Time travel has long held a fascination for many of us. The idea that we could use science to see the past and the future has been with us since HG Wells penned The Time Machine at the end of the 19th Century. Since then, sci-fi comics and Hollywood have built an entire time travel industry.
Time travel has long held a fascination for many of us. The idea that we could use science to see the past and the future has been with us since HG Wells penned The Time Machine at the end of the 19th Century. Since then, sci-fi comics and Hollywood have built an entire time travel industry.
Today, Man is successfully probing deep into the mysteries of the universe. Can he penetrate the greatest mystery of all - time itself?
Today, Man is successfully probing deep into the mysteries of the universe. Can he penetrate the greatest mystery of all - time itself?
Author of the Time Machine, HG WellsOne young boy, growing up in the 1950s in the Bronx in New York, was especially interested in these tales. Ronald Mallett was just 10 when his father died of a sudden heart attack. And it was in science fiction that he found solace.
Author of the Time Machine, HG WellsOne young boy, growing up in the 1950s in the Bronx in New York, was especially interested in these tales. Ronald Mallett was just 10 when his father died of a sudden heart attack. And it was in science fiction that he found solace.
"Just about a year after he died, I came across HG Wells' book The Time Machine. And that is what saved me from going into a total depression - because I had this inspiration," says Mr Mallett.
"Just about a year after he died, I came across HG Wells' book The Time Machine. And that is what saved me from going into a total depression - because I had this inspiration," says Mr Mallett.
"I thought: if I could build a time machine, the way HG Wells had suggested, then I should be able to go back into the past; and if I could go back into the past, I could see my father again and warn him about what was going to happen to him, and maybe save his life. So that became an obsession for me."
"I thought: if I could build a time machine, the way HG Wells had suggested, then I should be able to go back into the past; and if I could go back into the past, I could see my father again and warn him about what was going to happen to him, and maybe save his life. So that became an obsession for me."
More than 50 years later Ronald Mallett has learned a lot more about science. He's now a professor of physics at the University of Connecticut. But time hasn't changed him. He still wants to build a time machine.
More than 50 years later Ronald Mallett has learned a lot more about science. He's now a professor of physics at the University of Connecticut. But time hasn't changed him. He still wants to build a time machine, and is seeking funding for his so-called Space-Time Twisting by Light project.
Of course, building such a machine was never going to be simple. And it isn't.
Of course, building such a machine was never going to be simple. And it isn't.
First, Dr Mallett has to prove the concept. And that's complex too. But it works something like this: we know that massive objects, such as stars and planets, can bend both space and time. Dr Mallett and others believe that light too, because of its inherent energy, can also bend what's called the space/time continuum.
First, Dr Mallett has to prove the concept. And that's complex too. But it works something like this: we know that massive objects, such as stars and planets, can bend both space and time. Dr Mallett and others believe that light too, because of its inherent energy, can also bend what's called the space/time continuum.
Who of us has not longed to change something in their past? Dr Ronald Mallett Build yourself an extremely powerful ring laser, and pop some material - maybe even one day a human - in the centre of this vortex of light, and you might just be able to drag what's inside the machine back or forward through time.
Who of us has not longed to change something in their past? Dr Ronald Mallett Build yourself an extremely powerful ring laser, and pop some material - maybe even one day a human - in the centre of this vortex of light, and you might just be able to drag what's inside the machine back or forward through time.
"What you would see would be a cylinder in which you would have laser beams that would be intersecting in such a way that they would create this huge light tunnel. So if you imagine a tunnel, with this vortex of light circulating around in it."
"What you would see would be a cylinder in which you would have laser beams that would be intersecting in such a way that they would create this huge light tunnel. So if you imagine a tunnel, with this vortex of light circulating around in it."
Unfortunately, talk of time travel and vortices smacks of science fiction, sounding like something straight out of an episode of Dr Who. And that instinctively makes many a scientist uncomfortable.
Unfortunately, talk of time travel and vortices smacks of science fiction, sounding like something straight out of an episode of Dr Who. And that instinctively makes many a scientist uncomfortable.
Dr Mallett himself trod carefully for many years, hiding the true intent of his investigations, for fear that he'd be branded a crackpot by his peers. But Dr David Whitehouse, a writer and astronomer, believes science needs people like the professor.
Dr Mallett himself trod carefully for many years, hiding the true intent of his investigations, for fear that he'd be branded a crackpot by his peers. But Dr David Whitehouse, a writer and astronomer, believes science needs people like the professor.
"I don't think he's a crackpot. He may be wrong; he may be misguided. But there's nothing scientifically dishonourable in being wrong or misguided," says Dr Whitehouse.
"I don't think he's a crackpot. He may be wrong; he may be misguided. But there's nothing scientifically dishonourable in being wrong or misguided," says Dr Whitehouse.
Importance of wrong
Importance of wrong
"Much of the science being done today in many fields will turn out to be wrong. Being wrong is an essential part of investigating the universe."
"Much of the science being done today in many fields will turn out to be wrong. Being wrong is an essential part of investigating the universe."
At Universal Studios, the Back to the Future ride is due to closeNevertheless, there are still many who say time travel won't work. If it did, why isn't the present filled with time travellers from the future? And then there's what's called the "grandfather paradox".
At Universal Studios, the Back to the Future ride is due to closeNevertheless, there are still many who say time travel won't work. If it did, why isn't the present filled with time travellers from the future? And then there's what's called the "grandfather paradox".
For instance, if you went back in time and killed your grandfather or your father, you wouldn't exist. Changing the time line is a paradox. People have suggested that the way the universe gets over that is either by making time travel impossible - or that, when things happen to change the universe, the universe splits into all possibilities.
For instance, if you went back in time and killed your grandfather or your father, you wouldn't exist. Changing the time line is a paradox. People have suggested that the way the universe gets over that is either by making time travel impossible - or that, when things happen to change the universe, the universe splits into all possibilities.
Dr Mallett now admits he won't be meeting his father. He says that, even if he succeeds in completing his light vortex, it would only take him as far back as when the machine was first switched on. But he's convinced time travel will happen - and, when it comes, we'll all be wanting to take a trip.
Dr Mallett now admits he won't be meeting his father. He says that, even if he succeeds in completing his light vortex, it would only take him as far back as when the machine was first switched on. But he's convinced time travel will happen - and, when it comes, we'll all be wanting to take a trip.
"Who of us has not longed to change something in their past? What if I could have changed this? What if I could have told this loved one 'don't get into that car', or 'don't take that flight'?
"Who of us has not longed to change something in their past? What if I could have changed this? What if I could have told this loved one 'don't get into that car', or 'don't take that flight'?
"I think just this notion, this longing, of being able to change the past, or to know what is going to come next; what's it going to be like a hundred years from now, 200 years from now? These, I think, are just so ingrained in us - this notion - that I think it's fundamental."
"I think just this notion, this longing, of being able to change the past, or to know what is going to come next; what's it going to be like a hundred years from now, 200 years from now? These, I think, are just so ingrained in us - this notion - that I think it's fundamental."
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