Media Release

Friday, 8 December 2000

Time travel has made great science fiction since H G Wells published The Time Machine in 1895, but can it really be done?

Physicists know that travel into the future is possible, but travelling into the past is more problematic. For example, what happens to the time traveller who goes back in time and murders his mother when she is a young girl?

Time Travel, the Origin of the Universe and Sub Atomic Particles will be among the many topics discussed in Adelaide in December.

The city will host the 14th National Congress of the Australian Institute of Physics, to be held at Adelaide University from 10-15 December. A number of international speakers will present lectures during the Congress.

The main public event will be a talk from Professor Paul Davies, who will speak on Time Travel: Fact or Fiction, 7:30 pm, Tuesday 12 December at the Bonython Hall.

Recent research on 'wormholes' in space have led to renewed speculation that visiting the past may be possible," says Professor Davies. "Ways to avoid the inevitable paradoxes have been suggested, involving the existence of parallel universes," he said.

Tickets for Professor Davies' talk are $12 and $6 (concession) and available now through BASS.

Professor Paul Davies lives in Adelaide. To arrange an interview, for details of the conference program, other visiting speakers etc.