Although earlier books have described
time travel, its scientific roots can be traced back to the Special Theory of
Relativity propounded by Albert Einstein in 1905.
As per this theory any object /person
traveling with significant speeds comparable to that of light (speed of light
300,000 KM/Sec) will have a slowdown in time compared to the objects/persons
which are stationery.
This slowing down in time is not
noticeable to a person that is moving but it can be observed by the persons who
are stationery. This principle of time variation is a tool for traveling vast
distances in space (at least theoretically).
This theory states that this time
slowdown is applicable for all speeds but becomes observable and significant as
one approaches the speed of light. If an object is traveling at 90% the speed
of light(270,000 KM/Sec), then its time as observable by stationery observers
would slow down by half. An hour for a stationary observer would only be half
an hour for a person traveling at 90% the speed of light.
Time then starts slowing down rapidly
as one approach the speed of light and at the speed of light time stands still.
This conclusion appears meaningless to many people because we cannot comprehend
this happening. But technically this is supposed to be feasible and Einstein
has proved that beyond all doubt by his mathematical calculations.
Unless there is a fundamental mistake
in our mathematics which we have not yet discovered, the theory of Einstein is
correct.
Even more incomprehensible is what
happens after crossing the speed of light. Time then starts going in the reverse
direction i.e. from present to the past.
Travel both forward and backward in
time is possible due to this theory. How that happens is given below:
1. FORWARD: If a person starts off on
a rocket from the earth and travel with the speed of light, then time virtually
stands still for him. With that speed he can travel to say a star 100 light
years away and back then it would take him 200 years as calculated from the
earth. But for him no time would have elapsed. If he now lands back on earth,
then he would be doing so 200 years later or in 2211. So, he has traveled into
the future.
2. BACKWARD: If a person starts off
on a rocket from the earth and exceeds the speed of light, then he starts going
from the present to the past. As the speed increases more he would travel back
in time faster. If he then lands back on the earth, he would be landing in the
past.
Perhaps there is some universal
principle which we are missing here. A principle we are unable to comprehend
and that is beyond our three/four dimensional thinking. Perhaps we are trying
to bring in this universal principle into our limited thinking which is
resulting in paradoxes that are incomprehensible to us.
I have doubts about the operation of
our physical laws at the speed of light and perhaps we are vainly applying them
in areas where they are not valid. Perhaps time travel as we perceive is not
possible at all. But of course only time can answer that and maybe even it
would not be able to do so.
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