The Penn Stater Magazine

Vicki Glembocki on Covering Ronald Mallett

August 1, 2009 at 10:28 am Tina Hay 2 comments

The story in our July-August issue that seems to stick out for most of our readers is Vicki Glembocki’s profile of Ronald Mallett ’69, ’70g, ’73g, a respected physicist who has devoted his career to building a time machine. (Not as impossible a quest as it may seem, by the way.) Mallett’s reason for wanting to go back in time is poignant: He wants to see his father again.

A number of people have commented on how touching the story is. And the other day, a colleague of mine—the editor of the alumni magazine at another school—asked me if I could tell her more about exactly how Vicki reported the story. That is, did she read Mallett’s book? Interview him? Talk to others who know Mallett?

I e-mailed Vicki, and I thought her response was interesting; it reveals a bit about how she approaches human-interest stories like these. I’m printing her comments here with her permission:

Of course, how can you fail with the premise of a guy building a time machine to go back in time to save his father’s life…right?

Mallett’s book was very well written and had lots of detail, though it was lacking in the emotional stuff: how he felt about his dad, and his marriages, and pretty much dedicating his life to a failed project.

When I interviewed him (and I did that in person, on his turf), I asked him to tell me his whole story again, even though I’d already read it, because I knew that what he chose to highlight in talking to me would be the most dramatic/important moments. And that’s when he told me all about Spike Lee and the movie and how he was so worried about who would play his dad, which I would never have gotten had I not talked with him for so long, and if I wasn’t the kind of person who asked personal questions of people not expecting you to ask personal questions.

He was a great interview, though … took me to his  apartment, took me to the time machine, etc. I usually just sit with a tape recorder and have a conversation. I feel that taking notes is not only hard, but reminds your source, constantly, that this is an interview-with-a-capital-I. I don’t even have a list of questions out. (Though, it’s in my bag, and I might refer to it at the end just to make sure I have everything.) This was a TON of tape. But it was worth the hours transcribing it.

As Vicki mentioned, Mallett’s book, Time Traveler: A Scientist’s Personal Mission to Make Time Travel a Reality, has caught the attention of filmmaker Spike Lee, who is planning to make a movie about it.

Tina Hay, editor

Entry filed under: Eberly College of Science, Famous Penn Staters, Penn State alumni, The Penn Stater magazine. Tags: physics, reporting and writing, ronald mallett, spike lee, time travel, Time Traveler: A Scientist's Personal Mission to Make Time Travel a Reality, Vicki Glembocki.