Two Russian mathematicians have theorised that 2008 will be the first year time travel is possible, claiming the the giant atom-smasher at the European centre for nuclear research, Cern, near Geneva, could make it possible to travel backwards or forwards in time.
Two Russian mathematicians have theorised that 2008 will be the first year time travel is possible, claiming the the giant atom-smasher at the European centre for nuclear research, Cern, near Geneva, could make it possible to travel backwards or forwards in time. Photo: Wormhole Benji64/Wikipedia
Irina Aref'eva and Igor Volovich from the Steklov Mathematical Institute in Moscow, have suggested the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), due to be switched on this year, may create tiny "wormholes" in space, therefore making a limited form of time travel possible.
The so-called wormhole is a theoretical joining of two portions of curved space-time which would transport an object into the future (or past) in an instant.
As time travel can only go back, in theory, to the first ever time machine, explains the New Scientist, if the Russian mathematicians are correct, 2008 would be "Year Zero" and stand as a major landmark in world history.
However as the New Scientist suggests, even though time travel is possible under the laws of physics, the difficulties of ever achieving this feat are immense. The Collider is also designed to study the nature of forces at a sub-atomic level and could therefore only be an accidental time machine.
In other words, experts say though theoretically possible, time travel is considered highly unlikely.
According to Cern researcher at the University of Manchester Brian Cox: "Time travel into the future is absolutely possible, in fact time passes at a different rate in orbit than it does on the ground, and this has to be taken into consideration in order for satellite navigation systems to work," he said.
"But time travel into the past, although technically allowed in Einstein's theory, will in the opinion of most physicists be ruled out when, and if, we develop a better understanding of the fundamental laws of physics – and that's what the LHC is all about."
Science writer and physicist John Gribbin explained the practicalities of wormholes to the Independent: "...The snag is that the kind of accidental 'time tunnel' that could be produced by the LHC in Geneva would be a tiny wormhole far smaller than an atom, so nothing would be able to go through it."
"So there won't be any visitors from the future turning up in Geneva just yet. I'd take it all with a pinch of salt, but it certainly isn't completely crazy," he said.
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