Ronald L. Mallett

Physicist Ronald Mallett was born on March 3, 1945 in Roaring Springs, Pennsylvania to Dorothy Kimbrough and Boyd Mallett. Mallett joined the United States Air Force in 1963 and later was admitted into Pennsylvania State University, where he received his B.S. degree in 1969, his M.S. degree in 1970, and his Ph.D. degree in 1973 in physics.

After receiving his Ph.D. degree from Pennsylvania State University, Mallett was hired in 1973 as a research scientist for United Technologies Research Laboratory in Farmington, Connecticut. Two years later, in 1975, he was hired as an assistant professor of physics at the University of Connecticut, in Mansfield, Connecticut, and subsequently promoted to associate professor in 1980. From 1981 to 1982, Mallett served as the Ira Reid Visiting Professor at Haverford College, in Haverford, Pennsylvania. In 1982, he served as a visiting scholar at the Center for Theoretical Physics at the University of Texas at Austin. Mallett was then promoted to professor of physics at the University of Connecticut in 1987, where he remained until his retirement in 2018.

Known for his work on the theory of time travel, in 2002, Mallet presented at the Third International Association for Relativistic Dynamics Conference. In 2003, he was featured in the documentary The World’s First Time Machine, directed by Ben Bowie, and in 2006, Mallett published his memoir, Time Traveler: A Scientist’s Personal Mission to Make Time Travel a Reality.

Mallett is an honorary member of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of National Society of Black Physicists. In 2006, he was elected vice president of the International Association for Relativistic Dynamics.

Mallett received the Altoona Outstanding Alumni Award from Pennsylvania State University in 2006; and, in 2007, he was named an Alumni Fellow. In 2012, Mallett was also named a distinguished alumnus by Altoona Area High School, in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

Mallet and his wife, Terry Mamunes, live in Storrs, Connecticut.

Ronald Mallett was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on April 7, 2022.