Time Travel: Is Visiting the Past and Future Possible?
journey through time 1 It was a cold morning on November 19 1863 Thousands of people were gathered in Gettysburg Pennsylvania They had come to hear President Lincoln deliver what would become his famous Gettysburg Address Ten-year-old Andrew Basiago was among the crowd Andrew had dressed as a bugle boy to blend in with other boys at the event But he had lost his shoes during his journey to Gettysburg Now he was wearing a borrowed pair of men’s shoes Andrew felt that his oversized shoes were attracting attention He decided to step away from the gathered crowd He clutched a letter addressed to the Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles In it Andrew asked Welles to help him if he was arrested Andrew did not belong in the year 1863 In fact he had come from more than 100 years in the future Now an adult Basiago has shared this story with the public since 2004 For evidence he points to a photo 4
The Gettysburg Address is one of the most well-known speeches in US history Lincoln spoke about equality and freedom in the face of the Civil War taken at the Gettysburg Address The photo shows a young boy in big shoes standing apart from the crowd Basiago claims the boy is his younger self Did Basiago really travel through time 5
what is time travel 2 Time travel is the movement backward or forward between two points in time The idea might seem simple at first But time travel exists in several different contexts The most popular context for time travel is science fiction Since the late 1800s writers have explored the idea of human travel into the past or future These writers invent their own logic technology and consequences of time travel They are free to imagine time travel without being limited by what is currently possible Time travel stories also exist in the real world Basiago is one of many people who have claimed to travel into the past or future Some of these people have claimed to do so with the help of technologies such as time machines Many others have claimed to suddenly slip through portals in space and time without trying to do so Time travel is also a topic of scientific study This idea of time travel is different from the kind shown in fiction 6
The TV series Star Trek had many episodes that involved time travel It introduced many viewers to new concepts about time travel and personal accounts It exists mainly in theory or on a very small scale Scientific theories of time travel can be difficult to understand Meanwhile real-life claims of time travel can be convincing This leaves many people searching for answers Are humans capable of time travel Is visiting the past and future possible 7
