The front page of Dana Scully's senior thesis.
A page from the thesis.
Einstein's Twin Paradox: A New Interpretation was the thesis written by Dana Scully, aged 23. (TXF: "Pilot", "Synchrony") In 1986, the year she wrote the thesis, Scully was studying at the University of Maryland. (TXF: "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man")
Each page of the document was white. (TXF: "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man") One section of the text within read, "Although common sense may rule out the possibility of time travel, the laws of quantum physics certainly do not." Another section stated, "Although multidimensionality suggests infinite outcomes in an infinite number of universes, each universe can produce only one outcome." (TXF: "Synchrony")
On March 6, 1992, the Cigarette Smoking Man privately examined Scully's thesis at the FBI's headquarters in Washington, D.C.. (TXF: "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man") Later that day, Scully first met Special Agent Fox Mulder, as she had been assigned to work on the X-Files with him, an arrangement secretly organized by the Cigarette Smoking Man. (TXF: "Pilot", "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man") Upon their first meeting, Mulder mentioned that he had enjoyed reading Scully's thesis. He also commented that "rewriting Einstein" was an impressive credential. (TXF: "Pilot")
In 1997, Mulder reminded Scully of what she had written in her thesis while they worked together on a case possibly involving time travel. Although the text seemed to suggest that Scully believed time travel was possible, she found difficulty in accepting that a man from the future had traveled back in time to 1997, prompting Mulder to comment, "You were a lot more open-minded when you were a youngster". Scully replied by assuring him that she knew what she had written but that she also believed that the limits of human endurance would prevent such a trip from ever happening.
At the end of their investigation, Mulder again reminded Scully of her thesis. He revealed that he had interpreted a section of the text as her suggesting that the future could not be altered. (TXF: "Synchrony")