Visits from crack to the future
By PAUL SUTHERLAND, The Sun Spaceman
7th February 2008
The Sun
Who's there ... Doctor Who and his time-travelling Tardis may soon be a reality
WE could soon be visited by TIME TRAVELLERS — thanks to a £2billion machine able to punch a HOLE in the universe.
The atom-smasher may open up a time tunnel for people from the future to travel back to now.
The particle accelerator, called the Large Hadron Collider, has been designed to explore the origins of the universe by investigating the tiniest components of atoms.
It is due to be switched on in May.
Big Bang boffin ... Dr Volovich
It will accelerate particles to the speed of light — then smash them together to recreate conditions from the first fraction of a second after the Big Bang, which created the universe.
But each particle — a trillionth the size of a mosquito — will create a shockwave distorting time and space around it.
And Russian mathematicians Igor Volovich and Irina Aref’eva say this may tear the fabric of the universe and result in a “wormhole” linking our time with the future.
Phantom
The laws of physics suggest that no one from the future will be able to travel back any further than when the machine was switched on — with 2008 being Year Zero.
Dr Volovich, of the Steklov Mathematical Institute in Moscow, reckons future technology may be advanced enough to send someone back through the time tunnel.
He told the magazine New Scientist: “If a combination of fast-moving particles and phantom energy does create a wormhole, an advanced civilisation could find it in their history books, pinpoint the moment — and take advantage of their technology to pay us a visit.”
And some boffins think it may be possible for people of our time to travel years ahead — like TV Timelord Doctor Who.
The machine is based in a vast underground laboratory at the CERN particle physics centre in Geneva, Switzerland.
How you spot a time traveller
DO you live next to an inter-galactic time traveller from the future?
Here are telltale signs:
1: He asks to be taken to your leader . . . Brooklyn Beckham.
2: He’s got a suspicious looking blue police box in his garage.
3: He’s won the lottery five weeks in a row.
4: He’s worried about the icecaps expanding and global cooling.
5: He spends his summer holidays in 2076.
thesun.co.uk
By PAUL SUTHERLAND, The Sun Spaceman
7th February 2008
The Sun
Who's there ... Doctor Who and his time-travelling Tardis may soon be a reality
WE could soon be visited by TIME TRAVELLERS — thanks to a £2billion machine able to punch a HOLE in the universe.
The atom-smasher may open up a time tunnel for people from the future to travel back to now.
The particle accelerator, called the Large Hadron Collider, has been designed to explore the origins of the universe by investigating the tiniest components of atoms.
It is due to be switched on in May.
Big Bang boffin ... Dr Volovich
It will accelerate particles to the speed of light — then smash them together to recreate conditions from the first fraction of a second after the Big Bang, which created the universe.
But each particle — a trillionth the size of a mosquito — will create a shockwave distorting time and space around it.
And Russian mathematicians Igor Volovich and Irina Aref’eva say this may tear the fabric of the universe and result in a “wormhole” linking our time with the future.
Phantom
The laws of physics suggest that no one from the future will be able to travel back any further than when the machine was switched on — with 2008 being Year Zero.
Dr Volovich, of the Steklov Mathematical Institute in Moscow, reckons future technology may be advanced enough to send someone back through the time tunnel.
He told the magazine New Scientist: “If a combination of fast-moving particles and phantom energy does create a wormhole, an advanced civilisation could find it in their history books, pinpoint the moment — and take advantage of their technology to pay us a visit.”
And some boffins think it may be possible for people of our time to travel years ahead — like TV Timelord Doctor Who.
The machine is based in a vast underground laboratory at the CERN particle physics centre in Geneva, Switzerland.
How you spot a time traveller
DO you live next to an inter-galactic time traveller from the future?
Here are telltale signs:
1: He asks to be taken to your leader . . . Brooklyn Beckham.
2: He’s got a suspicious looking blue police box in his garage.
3: He’s won the lottery five weeks in a row.
4: He’s worried about the icecaps expanding and global cooling.
5: He spends his summer holidays in 2076.
thesun.co.uk