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Zefram Cochrane


Zefram Cochrane is a fictional character from the Star Trek universe who invented the warp drive in 2063, bringing faster-than-light travel techonolgy to humanity. He was born in 2030 and was presumed dead after disappearing from Alpha Centauri in 2117 .

In the Star Trek universe, World War III lasted for ten years and 600 million people perished in the nuclear disaster. In 2053 an uneasy truce was signed. Around this time, Zefram Cochrane began construction of the first warp capable vessel, the Phoenix.


On April 5, 2063 at 11:15 Cochrane made Earth's first warp flight. His warp signature was detected by a Vulcan survey ship which then made first contact with humans. Development of warp technology was the Vulcan society's prerequisite for first contact with another civilization, a practice that continues through to the Prime Directive policy of the United Federation of Planets.

Cochrane was played by Glenn Corbett in the episode "Metamorphosis" of Star Trek: The Original Series and by James Cromwell in the film Star Trek: First Contact. Cromwell reprised the role in a cameo in the premier episode of Star Trek: Enterprise, "Broken Bow".

Between the original series's episode "Metamorphosis" (which first aired on November 10, 1967) and the 8th movie of the franchise, the character's trajectory has been retconned to a certain extent. Although it was not mentioned explicitly, originally Cochrane would have discovered the warp drive in his early 30s, whereas James Cromwell was about 55 years old when the feature film was shot. It has been argued that the intention was to make Cochrane's discovery "the achievement of a lifetime", something that a mature scientist might accomplish after years and years of research and experience. This entails significative consequences for the Star Trek timeline: First, Cochrane could not be in his late 50s by 2063 if he had been born in 2030; Second, if he was, in fact, in his late 50s by 2063, it would have been quite unlikely that he would be still alive in 2117, when he disappeared in space.

Yet another aspect of Cochrane's character that has been retconned is his motivation. In the original series, no direct explanation is given as to what was on Cochrane's mind when he was striving to build the first faster-than-light ship in Earth's history, but the subtext leads to the conclusion that his intentions were noble at the very least. On Star Trek: First Contact, Cochrane reveals some rather selfish and petty reasons for building the warp engine.

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Last updated: 10-24-2004 05:10:45