A remarkable memoir!

TIME TRAVELER: A SCIENTIST'S PERSONAL MISSION TO MAKE TIME TRAVEL A REALITY
Dr. Ronald L. Mallett
Thunder's Mouth Press, 2006, 215 pages

As a kid, Mallett read and loved science-fiction -- so when his beloved father died when he was just 11 (if I recall), he vowed to learn how to build a time machine so he could go back and see him and also change the health conditions that killed him.

What is extraordinary is that this motivation drove a black kid in the projects to overcome all odds and become a theoretical physicist. Today, in science, time travel is not the joke it was through most of Mallett's career -- it is taken seriously. Mallett kept his goal and his lifelong motivation close to the vest for decades but now, recently, the cat is out of the bag and he and his colleagues get closer to his goal. As I understand it, theory now says time travel is possible but creating the "machine" to do this is a great challenge.

Now think of this. A black kid in the projects loses his dad. He decides he'll learn how to build a time machine so he can see him again. He becomes a physicist at a time (beginning in the 50s) when black physicists were few and far between. He lets his research interests be directed by his goal, to travel back in time, so he concentrates on Einstein's theories of gravity, curved space, black holes, worm holes. He comes up with equations that his peers accept. He publishes papers on the subject after learning that others also are interested in time travel, it's nothing to be worried about any more (being called a "crackpot" could have ruined his career).

Mallett teaches at the Univ. of Connecticut and I emailed him today to inquire about the film rights. I assume Hollywood has picked up on this story, especially since many magazines around the world have and a documentary was even made about him. Somehow I missed all this. So I want to know where the movie stands. And if by chance, none is in the works, I'm going to see if I can cut a deal with the man and write the screenplay myself.

This is one of the more inspiring and incredible true stories I've heard in years.