Sir, – It is good to see discussion of physics taking prominence, as in your Editorial (February 25th). There are too few conversations in Ireland about physics, a notable absence in a people famously knowledgeable about everything. We have potential Einsteins among us.
Without getting myself pinned down or venturing on an absolute statement, I wish to point out that the Special Theory does not exclude faster than light speeds. Rather it leads to the conclusion that an infinite amount of energy is required to accelerate a particle of non zero mass to the speed of light. This may appear pedantic, but to a physicist the distinction is significant.
As for travelling faster than light, since the 1960s we have the idea of tachyons – intrinsically superluminal particles which would need infinite energy to slow down to the speed of light. – Yours, etc,