Abstract
This chapter offers a Case Study of Ronald Mallett , a prominent theoretical physicist and expert on black holes and cosmology. Inspired by a comic book rendering of H. G. Wells’ novel, The Time Machine, ten-year-old Ron used radio tubes, television parts, and pieces of bicycles to build a time machine in his basement. His goal was to travel back in time and warn his father of an impending fatal heart attack. Now an emeritus full professor of theoretical physics, Ron is still working on his time machine. Founded on Einstein’s work, his research suggests that time travel is theoretically possible. Viktor Frankl’s existential psychology (logotherapy) is used to interpret Ron’s 60-year quest to see his father again.
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Notes
- 1.
Edwin Schrödinger (1887–1961) was an Austrian physicist. The Schrödinger equation is fundamental to the study of quantum mechanics.
- 2.
These are produced by artist Mickey Duzyj and writer Jon Korn and marketed by Echo Park Time Travel Mart in Los Angeles, CA.
References
Barnett, L. (1948/2005). The universe and Dr. Einstein. Mineola, NY: Dover.
Mallett, R. L. (2003). The gravitational field of a circulating light beam. Foundations of Physics, 33, 1307.
Mallett, R. L., & Henderson, B. (2007). Time traveler: A scientist’s personal mission to make time travel a reality. New York: Basic Books.
Wells, H. G. (1895/2017). The time machine. Seattle, WA: Amazon Classics.
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Esping, A. (2018). Theoretical Physics: Building a Time Machine to Save My Father. In: Epistemology, Ethics, and Meaning in Unusually Personal Scholarship. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73718-8_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73718-8_4
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