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When was this "theory" first put forward? I only ask because the concept reminds me of something in a short story by Isaac Asimov. Thanks.--Pharos 16:24, 5 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I believe the Asimov story you refer to was "The Dead Past", originally published in Astounding, April 1956. Jonathunder 01:56, 2005 Feb 7 (UTC)

Yes, quite right, thanks. I wonder if the first claims for the Chronovisor "theory" came before or after "The Dead Past".--Pharos 02:01, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)

The earliest claim I could find was in 1972. See the references at the end of this Skeptical Inquirer article. Jonathunder 02:24, 2005 Feb 7 (UTC)

Actually, come to think of it, there was another similar device in Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End, published 1953, which actually disproved religious accounts there. I suspect this may be a not uncommmon science fiction plot device, and it could be wrong to pin down the idea of the Chronovisor to any one fictional instance. BTW, the Skeptical Inquirer article seems to make it quite clear that Father Ernetti did make these claims himself, rather than this Earth-shattering accomplishment merely being ascribed to him by the author Brune. It is interesting that Father Ernetti publically produced the supposed photograph of the crucifixion, identical to one sold on a postcard, and the full version of that lost play, with its suspiciously narrow Latin vocabulary.--Pharos 02:57, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Yes, there are many instances of the "past viewer" in science fiction. Orson Scott Card's _Pastwatch_ also centers on such a device. It's a pretty tempting fantasy.PotatoKnight 06:28, 1 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The article shows two pictures now deleted. Can someone link to a website where they're not deleted? Anomo 08:32, 5 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps there was some copyright issue of some sort, there is no other reason for them to be removed from wikipedia otherwise. EpiVictor 14:20, 5 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

perhaps it was something we were not suppose to see! dun dun dun —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 142.162.48.37 (talk) 05:22, 5 December 2006 (UTC).[reply]

Project Looking Glass is alleged to be somewhat related to the content of htis article. The current Wikipedia article Project Looking Glass however deals with a completely unrelated matter. I have nevertheless added a section to that talk page about this matter. __meco (talk) 10:49, 22 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I wonder if the Chronovisor legend inspired the 1966 - 1967 American television series The Time Tunnel, about a time machine that could view events in the distant past (via stock footage from the 20th Century Fox film library). Eligius (talk) 02:34, 14 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Doubtful; the Chronovisor story only surfaced in 2002. However, as mentioned above, time viewers had often appeared in science fiction before then; it's a common gimmick. 21:35, 18 March 2011 (UTC)

The way the article reads it is almost as if we are giving credibility to this thing. Yeah, I'm sure this time machine is secretly hidden in the Vatican and the College of Cardinals are just whizzing through time for the banter. Claíomh Solais (talk) 14:21, 1 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Exactly. The best we can do is cast doubt? It is obviously a fantasy with no possibility of redemption. --Oscar Bravo (talk) 06:36, 19 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Check out the UK TV Series DEVS - this should perhaps be linked because the series is about the creation of pretty much what was described here. Although this in itself is a bit of a spoiler for the series.

So Father Ernetti effectively invented Dave? Coat please… Mr Larrington (talk) 22:54, 20 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

During Doctor Who's second season, starring William Hartnell and broadcast in 1965, the serial "The Space Museum" ends with the Doctor being rewarded for saving the day with anything he wants from the museum's collection. He chooses a gadget called a Time-Space Visualiser which resembles a large television. In the following episode, at the start of the storyine "The Chase", the Doctor and his companions use the TSV to observe various events throughout history, including the Gettysburg Address, the secret of who really wrote Shakespeare's plays, and a performance by the Beatles. Doesn't this sound an awful lot like Father Ernetti's Chronovisor? Several possible inspirations for this extremely transparent hoax are mentioned in the article, but that's yet another one!

Oh, by the way, Robert Rankin's novel "The Brightonomicon" features the Chronovisor as the Macguffin the baddie is trying to get hold of. For some reason, probably copyright-related, it is renamed the Chronovision, but the backstory of how Father Ernetti built it and the Vatican hushed it up is exactly the same. Worth a mention? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.132.249.141 (talk) 06:07, 21 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]