  We study linear time dispersive and dissipative systems. Very often such
systems are not conservative and the standard spectral theory can not be
applied. We develop a mathematically consistent framework allowing (i) to
constructively determine if a given time dispersive system can be extended to a
conservative one; (ii) to construct that very conservative system -- which we
show is essentially unique. We illustrate the method by applying it to the
spectral analysis of time dispersive dielectrics and the damped oscillator with
retarded friction. In particular, we obtain a conservative extension of the
Maxwell equations which is equivalent to the original Maxwell equations for a
dispersive and lossy dielectric medium.
