The New Time Travelers: A Journey to the Frontiers of Physics

Science News,  Sept 1, 2007  

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THE NEW TIME TRAVELERS: A Journey to the Frontiers of Physics DAVID TOOMEY

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H.G. Wells' classic 1895 novel The Time Machine sparked the imaginations of millions of people, Among them were a handful of scientists who took Wells seriously and decided to explore the possibility of time travel. Einstein's theory of relativity posits that time travel to the future is impossible. But what about traveling to the past? Toomey recounts scientists' efforts to explore the notion of time travel and the conditions under which it would be possible. Among the scientists are an American, Kip Thorne, who in 1985 proposed that time travel might be possible through worm holes, and Igor Novikov, a Russian who in 1979 showed that a traveler to the past could not alter it. These and similar hypotheses about time travel soon began to appear in well-respected journals, and they even became the topic of discussion at a 1992 workshop for physicists held at the Aspen Center for Physics. Toomey ends by considering some perennial questions about time travel, none of which is more tantalizing than the following: If inventing a time-travel machine is indeed possible, why hasn't anyone ever seen a time traveler? Norton, 2007, 391 p., b&w plates and illus., hardcover, $25.95.

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