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This article contains information regarding Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, and thus may contain spoilers. |
Temporal science was the field of advanced science involving the study of the workings of time and its effects on the space-time continuum. The understanding of temporal mechanics and temporal physics were particularly relevant for understanding time travel. Temporal mechanics was among the course material taught at Starfleet Academy.
Doctor Vassbinder was a professor who taught temporal mechanics at the Academy; among his students was Chakotay, who failed his course in temporal mechanics. (VOY: "Year of Hell, Part II")
The discovery of the concept of anti-time was described by Data to be "a relatively new concept in temporal mechanics" in 2370. (TNG: "All Good Things...")
Miles O'Brien was not particularly fond of the paradoxes created by time travel, as was the case in 2371, when he encountered a past version of himself, and they became confused as to why the past O'Brien was affected by radiation but his future self felt fine. After mulling over it for a moment, they both declared that they "hate[d] temporal mechanics". (DS9: "Visionary")
Julian Bashir and O'Brien both took an Elementary Temporal Mechanics course when they attended the Academy. After having time traveled back to 2268 and having a chance encounter with a Lieutenant Watley aboard the USS Enterprise, Bashir was convinced that he may be experiencing a predestination paradox, and that he "could be destined to fall in love with that woman and become my own great-grandfather." (DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations")
Both Kathryn Janeway and B'Elanna Torres knew the "finer points" of temporal mechanics, which included understanding one of the more difficult concepts of the field to grasp, which was that "sometimes effect can precede cause" and that "a reaction can be observed before the action which initiated it." (VOY: "Parallax") However, Seven of Nine was the versed in temporal mechanics aboard the USS Voyager. (VOY: "Shattered") While under the guidance of Janeway in 2378, Q, Junior was scheduled for lessons in the study of temporal mechanics. (VOY: "Q2")
The Krenim had an advanced understanding of temporal mechanics, as they possessed deadly temporal science based weapons. One such Krenim, named Annorax, was responsible for creating a temporal weapon ship. (VOY: "Year of Hell") After being taken prisoner by the Krenim, Chakotay was described by Annorax as seeming to understand the subtleties of time. (VOY: "Year of Hell, Part II") After Seven of Nine experienced a number of personalities in 2375, as a result of being linked to Borg vinculum, she manifested the personality of a Krenim scientist with whom debated "the finer points of temporal physics" with Captain Janeway. (VOY: "Infinite Regress")
Kurros, the spokesperson of the "Think Tank", described the jellyfish-like lifeform, another member of the Think Tank, as the "resident expert on temporal physics" and "perhaps the most gifted member of our group." (VOY: "Think Tank")
In 2384, Dr. Erin Macdonald taught Temporal Mechanics 101 at Starfleet Academy. Dal R'El did not read the material which the Doctor suggested that he do on the USS Voyager-A and which his friends would often quote at him about the situation they found themselves in with the Janeway wormhole and the rescue of Chakotay and the USS Protostar from the future. Even Gwyndala, who wasn't attempting to join Starfleet Academy, knew of it and mentioned it to Dal. (PRO: "Into the Breach, Part I", "Into the Breach, Part II")
At the request of Dal, Janeway sent the crew of the Infinity Macdonald's Temporal Mechanics 101 instructional video which they used to transform their starship into a timeship in order to travel back in time from 2436 Solum to 2384 Solum. Subsequently finding Gwyn phasing out of reality, Dal explained to his comrades that as a result of them altering the timeline, she was in a superposition between quantum realities where she existed and didn't exist. (PRO: "Temporal Mechanics 101") Wesley Crusher later quoted Temporal Mechanics 101 while figuring out the complexity of the science behind sending the time-displaced Protostar back in time to correct a temporal paradox. (PRO: "Ouroboros, Part I")
In 2385, Macdonald started to teach Temporal Mechanics 201, but was interrupted by the Attack on Mars shutting down Starfleet Academy indefinitely. (PRO: "Ouroboros, Part II")
In 3188, after failing to locate the warp signature of the USS Discovery, Michael Burnham and Aditya Sahil had a conversation on where the ship might have time traveled to after it left the 23rd century. Burnham had gone ahead of the ship, so she would have arrived first. Following her, the ship might have landed in a location way far outside of the comms range of Sahil's station. Or, the ship was still in transit and, by the laws of temporal mechanics, it might land tomorrow or in a thousand years. Indeed, the ship didn't appear in the 32nd century until a year later. (DIS: "That Hope Is You, Part 1", "Far From Home")
In 3195, former Discovery crewmember and mid-23rd century time traveler Commander Jett Reno became a temporal mechanics instructor at the reopened Starfleet Academy, having left Discovery to be with Cadet Master Lura Thok. (SA: "Beta Test", "Vitus Reflux")