Time Machine: June 18

The free screening of H.G. Wells classic tale “The Time Machine” (1960) drew around 45 viewers this Friday. Following this movie, graduate student Jennifer Weston led a discussion about the film with the audience, and talked about some of the implications of time travel and the ideas behind it.

Some of the topics covered included: Discussing what humans will be like in 800,000 years, with a review of how we’ve changed in the past 800,000 years. We concluded that while the human race could potentially split into two very different species, our time traveler would NOT be able to speak perfect English with them.


How to resolve the apparent paradoxes of time travel. Multiple time lines and predestination were thought to be some possible ways to prevent paradoxes when you attempt to kill your own grandfather. We also introduced the concept of closed time-like curves.


After this, we had an overview of the physics of traveling through time. We reviewed some of the background for Special and General Relativity, light cones, and black holes. Finally, we outlined how one might build a time machine with wormholes and cosmic strings.


Following the movie, telescopes were set up outside on College Walk, manned by a number of students. Passersby were able to see close up views of the beautiful quarter moon, and the planets Mars, Venus, and Saturn, and the stars Arcturus, Mizar and Alcor. Over the course of a bit more than an hour, about 90 people came by to take advantage of the clear night. Thanks to everyone who attended and to those who volunteered!