Time travel is something Dr. Ronald Mallett has been looking forward to all of his life
STORRS, Conn. - Dr. Ronald Mallett is a professor emeritus of physics at the University of Connecticut and one of the first African Americans to be hired for the science department.
His journey to the field of physics started at a very young age following the passing of his father.
"Everything for me began with my father, for me, literally, the sun rose and set on him," Mallett told WBZ-TV "He died suddenly of a massive heart attack."
Mallett was just 10 years old when his father died. "It devastated me. It took everything out of me. I went from being a really happy kid to becoming a very depressed kid."
But soon, Mallett found hope.
Time.
"I came across the book that essentially changed my life," said Mallett. "It was a Classics Illustrated version of H.G. Wells's famous book 'The Time Machine.'"
Inside the book, Mallett said, it spoke of time being a type of space that could be manipulated.
"When I read that, it was like a life preserver had been thrown out to me because I thought, 'Oh, if I could build a time machine, then I could go back to the past and see him again and maybe save his life. So that became an obsession with me."
That obsession was further sparked by a book on Albert Einstein's formulas.
As a young adult, Mallett went into the Air Force, then to college on the GI Bill, and eventually, he landed at UConn.
His mission to see his father again took a turn decades later, theorizing light and gravity could be the key to unlocking the mystery of time.
"I solved Einstein's gravitational field equations for a device that's called a ring laser, which allows you to create a loop of light. And what I found was in fact two effects occur. One is that I found it causes a twisting of space," he said. "This twisting of space, if it's strong enough, can lead to the possibility of loops in time forming."
But, before any of that happens, Dr. Mallett says his project needs funding and engineers need to give a physical form to his theories.
"For that twisting of space to become great enough to cause a twisting of time, the energies that are associated with that are beyond anything technically that we can achieve."
At least, not achievable at the moment.
Still, Professor Mallett remains confident his theories are correct and it's only a matter of, well, time, before the dreams of his youth, become a reality.
For now, his trips to the past are within his family photo albums.
"He is, like, always there in the background for me. Always," said Mallett emotionally.
And if one day he could go back, Mallett has one wish.
"I knew he loved me. But I wasn't sure whether I had ever said explicitly to him that 'I love you.' That would be the other thing that I would do, is to tell him that."