The Black Vault

Growing up in New York City in the 1950s, Ronald Mallett idolized his father, a television repair man and amateur inventor who sparked young Ron’s curiosity about the world. “He was the most important thing in my life, my entire universe,” Mallett recalled in a National Public Radio interview in 2007. Tragically, Mallett’s father died suddenly at the age of 33 from a heart attack, devastating 10-year-old Ron. Shortly after that loss, however, a comic book adaptation of HG Wells’ classic “The Time Machine” inspired Ron and set him on a life-long quest--if time travel was possible, he would build a time machine, go back in time and warn his father about his heart condition. Despite the barriers African-American students faced at the time, Mallett earned a doctorate in physics from Pennsylvania State University and became a tenured faculty member at the University of Connecticut. Over the years, while Mallett engaged in research on black holes, general relativity and other facets of theoretical physics, he continued quietly working on the concept of time travel, receiving NSF support for his work. Eventually he published a paper that built on the work of Einstein and others, and raised the possibility of using light to bend time--a process which could, theoretically at least, allow for time travel. Recently, director Spike Lee acquired the rights to produce a feature film version of Mallett’s published memoir, “Time Traveler: A Scientist’s Personal Mission to Make Time Travel a Reality” (Basic Books, 2007), co-authored with Bruce Henderson and published around the world. While Mallett continues making contributions to physics, thanks to his father’s inspiration, his own life inspires others.

There is a way to time travel that requires almost no technology.