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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.

thumb James Cromwell as Cochrane on First Contact.

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 DirectiveIn the Star Trek fictional universe, the Prime Directive is Starfleet's most prominent guiding principle. The Prime Directive dictates that there be no interference with the natural development of any primitive society, chiefly meaning that no primitive c policy of the United Federation of PlanetsThe Seal of The United Federation of Planets President Jaresh Inyo (2372) Capital Earth: Federation President's Office located in Paris, Starfleet Command in San Francisco Language English, although heavy use is made of the universal translator Founded 21.

Cochrane was played by Glenn CorbettGlenn Corbett as Zefram Cochrane Glenn Corbett ( August 17, 1930- January 16, 1993) was an American actor born Glenn Rothenburg in El Monte, California. Corbett is probably best known for his regular role as Linc Case on Route 66 but he is remembered by s in the episode MetamorphosisMetamorphosis is a second season episode of Star Trek: The Original Series first broadcast November 10, 1967. It is episode #31, written by Gene L. Coon, and directed by Ralph Senensky. Quick Overview A shuttle crew from the Enterprise encounters a castaw of and by James Cromwell in the film . Cromwell reprised the role in a cameo in the premier episode of , " Broken BowBroken Bow is the pilot episode (episode number 001 (Paramount Pictures, n. of the television series Star Trek: Enterprise (then called Enterprise . It originally aired as a double-length episode, but has been split into two segments for repeats. The epis".

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 , Cochrane reveals some rather selfish and petty reasons for building the warp engine.

Furthermore, the character's apparent place of origin was also retconned. In the origional series, he was said to be from Alpha Centauri, whereas in the feature film he was from Earth ( Montana, to be exact). In Fasa ( role playing game), before the advent of the "Star Trek Chronology", and in all other known reference material before Okudu's seminal work in the Star Trek Chronology, he was described as being from Alpha Centauri, and not from Earth, which is also strongly implied in the episode
" Metamorphosis", where the character is first introduced (he refers to Kirk and company as "Earth Men", implying he himself was not from Earth).