Time Travel Is Impossible, Claim Scientists

Despite the impressive advances in science, traveling back in time seems to be impossible not only theoretically but also practically, as Albert Einstein had argued with great insistence a century ago. Let’s find out why time travel is impossible, according to a new study.

This discouraging statement about the infeasibility of a ‘magical’ journey to the past came from a pioneering research team of physicists working at the University of Science and Technology of Hong Kong (HKUST) under the direction of professor Shengwang Du.

According to the results of their study, traveling back in time belongs to the realm of science fiction and can’t be implemented in practice.

Photons and time travel

Having studied and analyzed the behavior of individual photons, the particles that make up light, the Chinese researchers found confirmation to a fundamental axiom of the theory of relativity: any material body (i.e. non-zero mass) can move at a velocity equal to or lower than that of light. Therefore, no object can exceed the speed of light.

What exactly was achieved? The scientists were able to accurately measure the velocity of individual photons, coming to the conclusion that none of them was able to exceed the speed of light in vacuum.

According to the research team, this conclusion puts an end to years of controversy over the alleged “delinquent” behavior of individual photons.

“Each individual photon, as well as the phase velocity of electromagnetic waves, obeys the relativistic postulate on the speed of light as a limit,” said the researchers.

Once again, research efforts have come to confirm the fundamental scientific ideas of Einstein he had suggested a century ago.

The research results were published in the prestigious scientific journal Physical Review Letters.

Unfortunately, as this particular study shows, time travel is impossible, and it seems that this science fiction dream is going to remain just that – a dream… 🙁