May 12, 2008
By Dan Falk
The Boston Globe
Ronald Mallett lost his father to heart disease at the age of 10, an event that left him in utter despair. His depression lasted until he read "The Time Machine" by H.G. Wells and, a few years later, the theories of Albert Einstein - and he became determined to see his father again.
For years, Mallett, a physicist at the University of Connecticut, stayed in the "time-travel closet," as he put it, keeping his desire to build a time machine under wraps for fear of ridicule.
Today, with other established physicists speaking openly about time travel, Mallett is finally able to talk unabashed about his research. Not only that, he and other like-minded physicists are publishing their findings in peer-reviewed journals - something hardly imaginable just a decade ago.
Time travel, of course, has been a favorite topic for science-fiction writers for more than a century, from Wells's pioneering novel to the campy "Back to the Future" movie trilogy. But the scientific urge to investigate time travel is about more than sci-fi fantasies. Contemplating time travel is forcing scientists to confront some of the most profound issues in physics, from the nature of the universe's ultimate laws to fundamental questions about the nature of space and time.
The full article is available in the Library's LexisNexis database. Off-campus users Need to log in first.
