Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel

Optics is the field of physics that studies electromagnetic radiation. This includes visible light, X-rays, microwaves, ultraviolet light, infrared light, and radio waves. The field is relevant to many of the technologies discussed in Physics of the Impossible, especially invisibility (Chapter 2), phasers and Death Stars (Chapter 3), and force fields (Chapter 1). Optics has been studied since ancient times, but the most significant figure in the modern incarnation of the field is undoubtedly James Clark Maxwell (1831-1879), whose theory of light provided the first equations describing light, electricity, and magnetism as manifestations of the same phenomenon.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Albert Einstein (1879-1955) proposed a series of connected theories on relativity, including special relativity and general relativity. These theories revolutionized the field of physics and are some of the most influential and celebrated developments in modern science. Alongside quantum mechanics, the theories of relativity are central to modern physics.

Einstein published his theory of special relativity in several papers in 1905. This theory concerns the relationship between space and time, describing characteristics of light that contradict everyday experience but have been supported by countless experiments on subatomic particles and fast-moving objects. The famous E=MC2 equation summarizes the major principles of this theory, which states that energy is equal to mass multiplied by the speed of light squared.