Beginning with the 1895 publication of the H. G. Wells novella The Time Machine, popular culture has been fascinated with the idea of inventing machines capable of sending humans through time. Despite our best efforts and a whole lot of dubious claims, though, true time travel seems as if it will remain the stuff of science fiction.
Who knows, though? Science and technology occasionally undergo paradigm shifts which make the impossible a reality, after all. The concept of devices which enable people to instantaneously see and hear other people on the opposite side of the world would have seemed like outlandish fantasy just a century ago, yet here you are watching live footage of cave rescues in Thailand while on the toilet and sending pictures of your naughty bits to that Czech girl you met on the train while backpacking through eastern Europe, all with a machine that fits in your pocket.
Will advances in technology someday allow us to travel back in time and make sure that mustard gas finishes off Hitler during World War I this time or, more importantly, fix all those embarrassing faux pas we made in middle school? One University of Connecticut physicist might thinks he may be able to some day make that all possible. Professor Ron Mallett recently met with interviewers the BBC’s Horizon science series to discuss a time machine design he believes might soon make time travel a reality.
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