Is time travel possible? Some theories suggest that it may be just barely possible. But will it ever be possible for people to actually travel backwards in time to the time and place of their choosing? Well… evidence suggests not. And what evidence is that? For one, the apparent complete lack of *billions* of time traveling science fanboys at the Fifth Solvay Conference in Brussels, Belgium, in 1927. What made that a special target? Consider the group photo:
Who do we have here? Marie Curie. Albert Motherfarkin’ Einstein. Neils Bohr. Paul Dirac. Max Born. Hendrick Lorentz. Max Planck. Louis de Broglie. Erwin Schroedinger. Werner “the one who knocks” Heisenberg.
Ho.
Leeeee.
Craaaaaaaaaap.
If there was *ever* a time and place for a time traveler to go, either to snag some autographs or to show off their TARDIS, that was it.
Note the lack of time travelers in the photo. Sigh.
The group photo was black and white. But as with anything black and white, someone will try to colorize it. And in at least one case, someone did a *really* good job.
You can order a print or a poster.
Given a nice, convenient time machine, perhaps in the form of a flying Delorean, that’s certainly one of my top targets. However, to be honest, once I’d proven the thing functional, my first serious goal would be to hire a pack of mercenaries and/or Special Forces. Specifically, mercs who are fluent in Greek. And then we’d wander on back to Alexandria, Egypt, around 300 BC, and visit the library with a hell of a lot of digital imaging and recording equipment and scan *everything.* And then re-visit the library every, oh, 50 years or so and re-copy everything. And stand back in 48BC as Julius Caesars troops burn the joint to the ground, then again in 391 AD when the place was trashed by the Christians, and again in 641 when Alexandria was conquered by the Muslims and the library finally and utterly destroyed.
Record the knowledge. And record the acts of unutterable stupidity that cost the world that knowledge.
But, sadly, as Solvay ’27 shows, chances that I’ll get a ride in a time machine are pretty slim.