Could we view events from the past?

The Vatican seemed to think so...

Uh oh… we’re in danger of delving into some serious conspiracy theories again today. But sit tight because the science behind this is quite interesting!

Enter- the chronovisor!

What the hell is the chronovisor? Well it’s a fabled machine developed by Pellegrino Ernetti, a priest at the Vatican sometime between 1925 and 1994.

What did it do?

Well… um… it could sorta… LOOK BACK IN TIME!

Yup I know it sounds bonkers, but just hear me out.

OK so this wasn’t exactly time travel.

Instead, the idea of the chronovisor was to pick up electromagnetic radiation from the past. Think of it like this… Every time we look at stars in the sky, we’re actually looking back into the past because the light from those stars takes years and years to reach us. So by the time the light reaches your eye, that star you’re seeing could very well be long gone!

On the flip side- if we were living on another planet, and could develop a telescope powerful enough to see the surface of the earth from millions of light-years away, we’d have something similar to the concept of the chronovisor. We could perceive events that have long since passed (due to the amount of time the light took to reach us).

Although the chronovisor wasn’t a telescope, the main premise remains the same.

Pellegrino Ernetti’s theory was that any electromagnetic energy from an event doesn’t just disappear into nothing, it hangs around (potentially forever). It’s emitted or beamed out into the universe like a torch.

His device, the chronovisor was kindof like a mirror…

Reflecting electromagnetic waves from eons ago.

Pretty nuts right?

What did it supposedly look like?

The chronovisor was described as a large cabinet with a cathode ray tube (like in old TVs) for viewing the received events and a series of buttons, levers, and other controls for selecting the time and the location to be viewed.

According to the myth, the chronovisor could also locate and track specific individuals, and pick up the audio component or sound waves emitted by these same events.

So yes, you could basically watch history play out like a TV show.

And Ernetti claimed to have done exactly that.

Using the device he claimed to have watched the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, as well as a performance in Rome in 169 BC of the lost tragedy, Thyestes (a play that had previously been lost to history).

Big claims from a priest right?

Not only that, he supposedly was able to take some pictures of historic events using the device, but there’s much controversy today over whether these pictures hold any legitimacy.

Could there be any science to this craziness?

The idea that we can see images of the past, and actually hear audio of events that happened seems pretty far fetched, but believe it or not, it’s not impossible.

Sound from the past for example, can at least be recovered to a certain extent.

If this is a new concept, check out Archaeoacoustics.

In recent years, Archaeoacoustic scientists have discovered a way to play minute scratches in ancient pottery, much like vinyl records. The idea being that as the clay was sculpted or carved in the past, minute vibrations in the air from sounds would transfer to the sculpting tools and needles. As these tools vibrated on the clay, they would leave an ‘imprint’ of the sounds that were happening at the time.

Using this technique, Archaeoacoustic teams have been able to produce clear, audible sounds from the Bronze Age, containing clear vocal samples from what sounds like both men and women, including discernible dialogue and laughter.

Unfortunately I couldn’t find the audio from the above example, but check out a recent re-creation where an artist made a pot to show the sounds it was able to capture:

And this example which features a violin inadvertently ‘recorded’ in a clay urn in 1552:

Note- the above sounds pretty horrible for a violin- this audio recovery is still very much in the early stages!

While recovering sound from the past might not exactly be time travel- it’s pretty amazing to be able to hear our ancestors in this way!

So it’s actually possible to ‘store’ sounds like a memory in surrounding material. But what about light? The chronovisor was claimed to be able to actually view past events.

Until now, we don’t really know anything about this. Maybe there is a way to ‘catch’ electromagnetic waves, maybe not. Maybe they do hang around forever. Who really knows?

The only way you’d be able to see the past at the moment is to be far enough away from the earth and use an extremely powerful telescope.

But at least we can dream that one day it might be possible.

For an interesting video on the chronovisor myth, take a look at this:

Worth noting- this video is all about conspiracy theories. So take the facts as you will.