Jules Verne

Date: Born on February 8, 1828, in Nantes, France; died on March 24, 1906, in Amiens, France
Definition: Prolific French author of novels, short stories, plays, and essays, considered by many to be the father of science fiction.
Significance: Verne was one of the first authors to write about rockets and the possibility of spaceflight. He also popularized the concept of hot-air ballooning with such novels as Le Tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours (1873; Around the World in Eighty Days, 1873).
Jules Verne was born into a prosperous French family with deep occupational traditions on both sides. His father, Pierre Verne, came from a long line of lawyers, and his mother, Sophie Allotte de la Fuye, came from a family with a strong military history. Verne’s formal education began in 1838 at College Saint-Stanislas, where he excelled in geography, Greek, and Latin. Between 1841 and 1846, Verne attended Petit Seminaire and later the Lycee Royal de Nantes, where he began writing short essays and prose pieces. While studying law in Paris, he wrote his first play, Alexandre VI, in 1847.
Verne remained in Paris and received his law degree in 1849. He worked as a stockbroker and served as secretary at the Theatre Lyrique from 1852 to 1854, all the time continuing to write. In 1856, he metHonorine de Viane, a widow with two children, and married her the following year. Together they had a son, Michael, who was born in 1861.
Verne’s initial foray into adventure stories came when “Un Voyage en ballon” (1851; “Voyage in a Balloon,” 1852) appeared in a children’s magazine in 1851. Twelve years later, Verne published Cinq semaines en ballon (1863; Five Weeks in a Balloon, 1876), the first of what would be called his scientific romances. Other topics in this vein included Voyage au centre de la terre (1864; A Journey to the Centre of the Earth, 1872), De la terre a la lune (1865; From the Earth to theMoon, 1873), Vingtmille lieues sous les mers (1869-1870; Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, 1873), Around the World in Eighty Days, and L ‘Ile mysterieuse (1874-1875,3 vols., including Les Naufrages de l’air, L’Abandonne, and Le Secret de l’ile; The Mysterious Island, 1874).
Using a blend of fantasy and science, Verne introduced the concept of space travel using rockets, as well as such futuristic products as television, the submarine, and the Aqua-Lung. He continued writing up until his death in 1904 from the complications of diabetes. For the next ten years, his son continued the publication of his remaining manuscripts.