LOCATION CHANGE: BROOKS HALL ROOM 202

Traveling through time is science fact, not science fiction, and Dr. Ronald L. Mallett has done the research to prove it.

“The thing I try to emphasize is that time travel is anchored in real, solid physics not science fiction. My work is anchored in Einstein’s work,” said Mallett, a physics professor at the University of Connecticut. “Time travel has become a reality, and we’ve already taken baby steps in the lab where we’ve actually been able to make particles move faster through time.”

Mallett, the subject of an upcoming film by Spike Lee, will visit West Virginia University to talk about his time travel research on Wednesday, Sept. 23 at 7:30 p.m. in Brooks Hall Room 202.

Dr. Mallett’s interest in time travel began early: his father died of a heart attack in 1955 when Mallett was only 10 years old. From then on, he dreamed of going back in time to save his father’s life.

Today, Mallett, a theoretical physicist, continues to work toward making his dream a reality by using Albert Einstein’s theories of relativity to develop equations for a potential time machine.

Mallett said his discussion will be on accessible level for WVU students and the public.

“We have developed equations for a time machine, and what I have discovered is that lasers play a significant part in time travel,” he said.

Mallett and Chandra Roychoudhuri, an experimental physicist at the University of Connecticut, are partnering with experts at the Penn State Electro-Optics Center to work on the first stages of Mallett’s time machine theories. Mallett and Roychoudhuri are also hoping to develop research collaborations with other institutions on the future stages of the project, Mallett said.

WVU Assistant Professor of Physics Duncan Lorimer became a fan of Mallett’s after reading his 2006 science memoir, “Time Traveler: A Scientist’s Personal Mission to Make Time Travel a Reality,” and contacted Mallett’s agent about speaking at WVU.

“Professor Mallett is a world expert on relativity and time travel,” Lorimer said. “These subjects fascinate just about everyone at some time in their lives and it’s an honor to get such a distinguished lecturer to inform us of the latest views on the subject of time travel.”

Lorimer hopes those who attend Mallett’s lecture learn “that time travel is not as far fetched as one might initially think.”

In 2008, film director Spike Lee acquired the rights to develop a film adaptation of Mallett’s science memoir. Mallett said the movie is in active development and the script is near completion.

Mallett was featured on a segment of NBC’s “Today Show” on Sept. 9 and has also made appearances on ABC News’ “Good Morning America;” the History Channel 2008 documentary, “The Universe: Unexplained Mysteries;” and the BBC 2003 documentary, “The World’s First Time Machine.”

Mallett graduated from Penn State University with a bachelor’s degree (1969), a master’s degree (1970) and a doctorate degree (1973). He has been a professor of physics at the University of Connecticut since 1987. He is also a member of the American Physical Society and the National Society of Black Physicists.

The NASA West Virginia Space Grant Consortium is sponsoring Mallett’s visit to the downtown campus.

For more information on Dr. Ronald L. Mallett, go to http://www.phys.uconn.edu/~mallett/main/main.htm.

Visit http://physics.wvu.edu/ for more on the WVU Department of Physics.

-WVU-

dc/9/17/09

CONTACT: Ronald Mallett, University of Connecticut
860-486-4693, RLMallett@aol.com

Duncan Lorimer, WVU Department of Physics
304-293-3422, Duncan.Lorimer@mail.wvu.edu