Ever since H. G.

Wells published his classic The Time Machine, time travel has fascinated everyone who has heard of it. Innumerable fiction plots have been built upon this concept. But there are still very few people who really understand the time travel theory. I am not one of them. But I am very curious about the whole thing and that lead me to present this report on time travel

Ask any person in the twilight zone of his life, what is the most valuable thing for him today? The answer from most would be time. However, what does time really mean? Time is simply change in all its forms. Time makes the world dynamic. Without time, everything would be like a still photograph; frozen and static.

Now, let us first grab some basics of modern science as relates to the concepts of space and time. The Newtonian Universe: Sir Isaac Newton, revered by many as the father of modern theoretical physics, propounded that time is a constant factor in physics, regardless of the reference frame. In his theories and equations, time was unidirectional variable. The Einstein Approach: Albert Einstein, Nobel Laureate physicist of German origin, first put forth a four dimensional concept of the universe. In 1905, Einstein produced his Special Theory of Relativity, according to which, as the speed of a body approaches the speed of light, time slows down for that body. So if we could find a way to travel at a speed that is faster than the speed of light, we would be able to defy time and reach the past or the future. The Current Status: After Einstein and the Lorentz Transformation (equation developed by mathematician Hendrik Lorentz), the concept of time as an immutable variable slowly faded away, giving rise instead to an entirely new concept, that of the space time continuum. In this approach, space and time are not treated as individually distinct entities; rather the four dimensions of

length, breadth, height and space are intricately interrelated to form the space-time continuum, which beautifully explains gravity.

On Traveling through Time: So we have understood gravity, and got a fair idea of what the General theory of relativity is all about. But where does time travel come into the picture? The answer lies in Time Dilation. Einsteins theory states that the faster a body moves, the slower is the passage of time for that body. This dilation is caused by the warping effects in the space-time continuum by the twin effects of mass and speed, and it could perhaps hold the key to Time Travel. Imagine a person A flying off in a spaceship whose speed is very near to the speed of light (the speed of light being the critical speed). Let us also assume there is a person B on earth, who is observing the spacecraft. Now, according to Einsteins theory, the passage of time for B would be much faster than that of A, since B is static and A is in motion. Thus, if A decides to travel back to earth in five years time, he would come back to meet B who has aged by decades.

Thus, if we were to enclose a person in a spherical device and rotate him in a loop at very high speeds (approaching the speed of light), we could enable that person to move through years in what would seem a few seconds to him. Of course, the tremendous gravitational forces at work at that speed would tear this person apart, but once we have tackled the problem of establishing the theory of time travel we can always sort out such minor details! Ridiculous as it may sound, there actually is a Time Travel Fund which proposes to bring you back to life using time machines once the technology is perfected.

Dumbledore gave Hermione a time turner to save three lives. What if we had that power? Mind blowing thought! But is it really possible? And if yes wouldn't there be greater responsibility with greater power?