Jules Verne

Frenchman Jules Verne wrote 54 novels. According to UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization), his works have been translated into 148 different languages. Although he studied law, as urged by his father, Verne became renowned worldwide as the creator of amazing scientific novels.

Between 1864 and 1873, he wrote a series of novels under the title Extraordinary Voyages, which included works such as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, and Around the World in Eighty Days. Verne wrote several of his novels aboard his private yacht, the Saint-Michel III, while visiting Holland, Germany, Denmark, England, Scotland, and other Mediterranean countries.

Unlike his contemporary, H.G. Wells, who imagined objects that could not exist at that time, Jules Verne applied current scientific information and his knowledge of technological advances to his works. For example, the Nautilus submarine from his 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea novel had already been invented in 1800 by Robert Fulton, under Napoleon Bonaparte’s patronage. Verne’s extraordinary mastery lay beneath his incredible vision.

Eighty years after the Montgolfier brothers invented the aerostatic balloon, the French writer would make one fly over the continent of Africa in his novel Five Weeks in a Balloon, a completely unthinkable adventure in the year 1863.