Warm-up

●Fabulous World of Jules Verne

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Today, Verne is widely regarded as a prophetic writer who imagined many modern technologies decades before their times. Can you tell what modern Inventions Jules Verne foresaw?

Electric Submarines

In Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Verne's Captain Nemo travels the world's oceans in a giant electric submarine.

Aside from its organ, formal dining room, and other luxuries, the Nautilus isn't all that different from some modern subs, such as the circa-1964, three-passenger Alvin (pictured), which is powered by lead-acid batteries. Like Alvin, the Nautilus was fully powered by electricity, "which at that time had a kind of magical aura,"

Newscasts

In an 1889 article, "In the Year 2889," Jules Verne described an alternative to newspapers: "Instead of being printed, the Earth Chronicle is every morning spoken to subscribers, who, from interesting conversations with reporters, statesmen and scientists, learn the news of the day."

Solar Sails

In his 1865 science fiction classic, From the Earth to the Moon, Jules Verne speculated about light-propelled spacecraft. Today, the technology has a name: solar sails. Today, Verne is widely regarded as a prophetic writer who imagined many modern technologies decades before their times.

Lunar Modules

In From the Earth to the Moon, Verne described "projectiles" that could be used to carry passengers to the Moon. He imagined "a big gun going off, and you get enough force to break through gravity."

Videoconferencing

In "In the Year 2889" Jules Verne describes the "phonotelephote"—a forerunner to today's videoconferencing technologies.

The phonotelephote allowed "the transmission of images by means of sensitive mirrors connected by wires," Verne wrote.

Taser

In Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, he described a gun that delivers a strong electric jolt, much like a Taser "electronic control device." Of his device, Verne wrote: "The balls sent by this gun are not ordinary balls, but little cases of glass. These glass cases are covered with a case of steel, and weighted with a pellet of lead; they are real Leyden bottles"—18th-century devices used to store static electricity—"into which the electricity is forced to a very high tension. With the slightest shock they are discharged, and the animal, however strong it may be, falls dead."

Splashdown Spaceship

In From the Earth to the Moon, Verne imagined a spacecraft landing in the ocean and floating—just like this Mercury capsule.

●Do you know?

When and where was Jules Verne born?

Jules Verne was born on the 8th of February, 1828 in Île Feydeau, in the city of Nantes, France. His full name was Jules Gabriel Verne, and he was the first of five children born from the marriage between his father, Pierre Verne, a Parisian lawyer, who came from a lineage of jurists of the city of Provence and his mother, Sophie Allotte de la Fuÿe, of Breton and Scottish origin.

Which countries did Jules Verne travel to?

In 1859, he made a trip to England and Scotland. In 1861, Jules Verne went to Scandinavia, specifically to Norway and Denmark. In 1867, Jules Verne embarked on the Great Eastern for a journey to the United States. His impressions are given in the novel A floating city. In 1872, he visited London and Woolwich. Between 1871 and 1873 he went to Jersey, Guernsey, and Sark (invited by Hetzel). In 1876, he made a trip to the coastal England. In 1878, Verne made a large trip on his yacht. He visited Lisbon, Tanger, Gibraltar and Algiers.

In 1879, he sailed to England and Scotland. In 1880, he went to Ireland, Scotland and Norway. In 1881, he made a trip to the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark, on board of the Saint-Michel III. Paul Verne wrote about this trip in the short story From Rotterdam to Copenhagen. In 1884, Verne cruised the Mediterranean with his Saint-Michel III, visiting Algeria, Malta, Italy and other countries. In 1887, Jules Verne made a tour through Belgium and the Netherlands, where he read his short story The Rat family.

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Imaginative minds, Inspiring Science

Background Information

●Author

George Kent

American writer and reporter who worked for the United Press and then became an editor for Reader’s Digest.

●Jules Verne

Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the genre of science-fiction. He is best known for his novels Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870), and Around the World in Eighty Days (1873).

Verne wrote about space, air, and underwater travel before navigable aircraft and practical submarines were invented, and before any means of space travel had been devised. He is the third most translated author of all time, behind Disney Productions and Agatha Christie. His prominent novels have been made into films. Verne, along with H. G. Wells, is often referred to as the "Father of Science Fiction".

●The Wright Brothers

The Wright brothers, Orville (August 19, 1871–January 30, 1948) and Wilbur (April 16, 1867– May 30, 1912), were two American brothers, inventors, and aviation pioneers who were credited with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903. From 1905 to 1907, the brothers developed their flying machine into the first practical fixed-wing aircraft. Although not the first to build and fly experimental aircraft, the Wright brothers were the first to invent aircraft controls that made fixed-wing powered flight possible.

●H. G. Wells

Herbert George "H. G." Wells (21 September 1866–13 August 1946) was an English writer, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing textbooks and rules for war games. Wells is sometimes called "The Father of Science Fiction", as are Jules Verne and Hugo Gernsback. His most notable science fiction works include The War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, The Invisible Man and The Island of Doctor Moreau.

Wells' earliest specialized training was in biology, and his thinking on ethical matters took place in a specifically and fundamentally Darwinian context. He was also from an early date an outspoken socialist, often sympathizing with pacifist views. His later works became increasingly political and didactic, and he sometimes indicated on official documents that his profession was that of "Journalist." Most of his later novels were not science fiction. Some described lower-middle class life, leading him to be touted as a worthy successor to Charles Dickens, but Wells described a range of social strata and even attempted, in Tono-Bungay (1909), a diagnosis of English society as a whole.

●Conan Doyle

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL (May 22, 1859 –July 7, 1930) was a Scottish physician and writer who is most noted for his fictional stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, which are generally considered milestones in the field of crime fiction. He is also known for writing the fictional adventures of a second character he invented, Professor Challenger. He was a prolific writer whose other works include fantasy and science fiction stories, plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and historical novels. 22

●Pierre Hetzel

Pierre-Jules Hetzel (January 15, 1814 – March 17, 1886) was a French editor and publisher. He is best known for his extraordinarily lavishly illustrated editions of Jules Verne's novels highly prized by collectors today. Hetzel helped improve Verne’s writings, which until then had been repeatedly rejected by other publishers. The two of them formed an excellent writer-publisher team until Hetzel’s death.

●Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon Bonaparte(15 Aug.1769 – 5 May 1821) was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the latter stages of the French Revolution and its associated wars in Europe. He was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1814, implementing a wide array of liberal reforms across Europe, including the abolition of feudalism and the spread of religious toleration. His legal code in France, the Napoleonic Code, influenced numerous civil law jurisdictions worldwide.

Napoleon is remembered for his role in leading France against a series of coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars. He won the majority of his battles and seized control of most of continental Europe in a quest for personal power and to spread the ideals of the French Revolution. Widely regarded as one of the greatest commanders in history, his campaigns are studied at military academies worldwide. He remains one of the most studied political and military leaders in all of history.