At the Library, we periodically set up a “thematic display” showcasing books and documents from our collection that relate to a particular theme or anniversary. For April 2026, we have chosen to explore the links between Star Trek and the curvature of space-time studied by a number of famous mathematicians.

“Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise…” the famous opening lines of every episode of the Star Trek TV series.

A crew travelling in search of “strange new worlds” aboard a starship powered by “warp drives” faster than light. It may seem like mere science fiction, but it is not. Some scientists are bending space-time to bring the warp drive closer to reality. In science fiction, this propulsion system creates a space-time bubble around a starship, which is then accelerated to travel faster than the speed of light. At first glance, the concept may seem impossible to achieve: after all, according to Einstein’s theory of relativity, objects in our universe cannot be accelerated beyond the speed of light barrier but space-time itself can bend or warp at any speed. Starting with the work of mathematician Hermann Minkowski, who succeeded in representing a four-dimensional system (length, width, height and time) using just two coordinates (spatial and temporal), and moving on to physicist Miguel Alcubierre’s first study on the topic of warp drive, we arrive at exploring the most recent research on space-time!

edited by Serena Musante and Roberta Scordamaglia - CAeB

The list of books that were displayed in the themed showcase:

Independent axioms for Minkowski space-time / John W Schutz
Foundations of special relativity: kinematics axioms for minkowski space - time / Schutz, John W. 
The geometry of Minkowski spacetime : an introduction to the mathematics of the special theory of relativity / Gregory L. Naber 
On space and time : Alain Connes ... [et al.] / edited by Shahn Majid 
Spacetime and geometry : an introduction to general relativity / Sean M. Carroll