Albert Einstein

Tag Area: Real-World Character
Novelette

The Voyages of Ijon Tichy 20

Podróż dwudziesta

  • Journey twenty
  • The Twentieth Voyage
  • by Stanisław Lem
  • in Dzienniki gwiazdowe, expanded third edition, by Stanisław Lem, (Czytelnik, 1971)

After the time mish-mash of Ijon Tichy’s seventh voyage, it wasn’t clear whether Ijon would ever ply the channels of time again, but here he is, traveling back in time to persuade himself to go forward in time and take up the helm of THEOHIPPIP—a.k.a. Teleotelechronistic-Historical Engineering to Optimize the Hyoerputerized Implementation of Paleological Programming and Interplanetary Planning. It takes a few attempts for older Ijon to convince younger Ijon to head to the future on a one-man chronocykl, but when he does, the younger Ijon begins the unexpectedly hard task of righting history’s wrongs. As a sophisticated time traveler yourself, you’ll spot what’s happening early on, while you also get a tour of history from the formamtion of the Solar System to the extinction of the dinosaurs and the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch. You’ll also recognize the fun Lem has at the expense of the bureaucracies of mid-20th-century Poland. —Michael Main
Zresztą Bosch nie powstrzymał się od niedyskrecji. W „Ogrodzie uciech ziemskich,” w „piekle muzycznym” (prawe skrzydło tryptyku) stoi w samym środku dwunastoosobowy chronobus. I co miałem z tym robić?
translate Even so, Bosch couldn’t refrain from certain indiscretions. In the “Garden of Earthly Delights,” in the very center of the “Musical Hell” (the right wing of the triptych), stands a twelve-seat chronobus. Not a thing I could do about it.
Pen-and-ink drawing of a broomstick time machine with a bicycle saddle and
                handle bars, a.k.a. the chronocycle.
  • Science Fiction
  • Comedy
  • Definite Time Travel
Short Story

The Moment Universe Stories 1

Some Like It Cold


Sure, others have pulled that 20th century actress forward to make modern films with spectacular failure, each attempt spawning a branch universe unconnected to the 21st century of time traveler Det Gruber, but none of the others took into account the psychological factors in the way that Det’s employers have done. —Michael Main
She may be a wreck, but she wants to be here. Not like Paramount’s version.
A naked child sits beside a robot dog with the moon in the background.
  • Science Fiction
  • Definite Time Travel
Short Story

The Millennium Express


Reconstructions of Albert Einstein, Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, and a 27th-century man are blowing things up at the close of the fourth millennium. —Michael Main
Or you, Pablo: you of all people ought to prefer to have all those paintings and sculptures sink unharmed into the ground rather than having them be blown sky-high.
No image currently available.
  • Science Fiction
  • No Time Phenomena
Feature Film

Absolutely Anything


As a test to determine whether humanity should be destroyed, four slimey aliens grant schoolteacher Neil Clarke the power to do absolutely anything. I kinda think that if I had that power, and I made as many mistakes as Neil, I'd be using my power to rewind time more often than he did.

Writer and director Terry Jones acknowledges H. G. Wells’ “The Man Who Could Work Miracles” as inspiration for the story. —Michael Main
Neil [wavinghand]: Let the explosion never to have happened.
A brown mutt on a yellow background stares up at the logo for Absolutely
                Anything.
  • Comedy
  • Cameo Time Travel
Novel

Max Einstein 3

Max Einstein Saves the Future


The prologue to the third Max Einstein book tells us that twelve-year-old genius do-gooder Max traveled as a baby from 1921 to the early 21st century when an experiment in her genius parents’ basement went a little ca-ca. Later on, Einstein himself makes a cameo appearance, possibly by opening some kind of communication line from the past to Max in her moment of need, but nothing else crops up in the way of time travel. I suspect that a truly genius rebel child would toss this aside as being condescending, preachy, one-dimensional, and melodramatic (not in a good way), as well as innacurate in most of its science and guilty of oversimplifying complex world problems. —Michael Main
Plus, if you shut down the time machine and never came into the future, you would never do all the great things you have already done in your life. We wouldn’t be standing her right now if you went back in time and convinced your parents to dismantle the project.
A drawing of a young girl with a mop of red hair, running toward us and pursued
                by a dozen buglike drones.
  • Science Fiction
  • Audience: Children
  • Cameo Time Travel
Flash Fiction

Best. Scientist. EVER.


You head out on a quick, rollicking ride back through time, with an unknown pursuer and an ambiguous conclusion. —Tandy Ringoringo
You come to the conclusion that you can correct everything if you stop yourself before you steal the time machine.
Stylized outline of a rocket launching in a green circular seal for
                Daily Science Fiction.
  • Science Fiction
  • Definite Time Travel