Jules Verneborn in France in 1828 and died in 1905, was a author of science fiction booksknown above all for telling stories extraordinary journeys set in space (From Earth to the Moon), in the deep sea (Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea) and even in the bowels of the Earth (Journey to the Center of the Earth). In some works, Verne seems to have foreseen the future by imagining inventions that did not yet exist: he described space capsules that reach lunar orbit, submarines capable of navigating thousands of kilometers submerged, cities full of skyscrapers and high-speed trains. Did she have the gift of foresight? No, but she lived in a 'era of great progress and was able, in some cases, to understand the direction in which technological evolution was moving.
Who was Jules Verne
Jules Verne, born in Nantes in 1828 and died in Amiens in 1905, was one of the best-known authors of children's books and science fiction works. Among his best-known books are the 54 novels of cycle of extraordinary journeysamong which Around the world in 80 days, Journey to the Center of the Earth, From Earth to the Moon, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.
Verne was passionate not only about travel, but also about technology. As we know, the century in which he lived, thanks to the first and second industrial revolutions, was a period of great progress: railways, automobiles, flying vehicles such as hot air balloons and airships, telegraphs, telephones, steamships were invented. steam and many other innovative means and instruments. The inventions stimulated the imagination of the most curious and interested people, like Verne, who in his works imagined events and scenarios that actually occurred a few decades later.
From Earth to the Moon: trips to the Moon
Verne's most famous “prediction” is that of lunar travel. The author actually wrote two novels on the topic, From Earth to the Moon (1865) e Around the Moon (1870). In the first he imagines that the members of an association, the Gun Club, design a cannon powerful enough to fire a capsule at the Moon. The undertaking is only partially successful: the capsule, with three men on board, reaches lunar orbit, but fails to descend onto the satellite. In the sequel Around the Moonthe three men manage to return safely to Earth.
As we know, about a hundred years after the publication of the two novels, man actually reached the Moon: in 1968 the Apollo 8 mission brought a human crew into orbit around the Moon for the first time; the following year Apollo 11 allowed the first two men to land on the satellite's soil.
Was Verne able to predict the future? No, he was just one of many authors who imagined a trip to the Moon. In fact, our satellite, being the celestial body closest to the Earth, has always fascinated artists and writers. Already a Greek author of the 2nd century AD. C., Lucian of Samosata, imagined a trip to the Moon “on board” large birds and after him many other authors described similar scenarios. Verne, who lived when technological advances of great importance had already occurred, was able to imagine that the journey to the satellite happened with more “modern” means compared to previous authors. Nonetheless, his works present many differences compared to real lunar missions, starting from the fact that the protagonists do not descend to the ground of the satellite but simply orbit around it.
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea: submarines
Another novel that made people think that Verne predicted the future is Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seaset in sea depths. They are protagonists Captain Nemo and his submarine, the Nautilusa vehicle powered by electric enginescapable of navigating submerged for 20,000 leagues (equal to approximately 80,000 km, i.e. twice the Earth's circumference).
How did Verne imagine submarines? Very simple: in his time they already existed. Some prototypes, powered by human energy, had already been built in the seventeenth century and at the beginning of the nineteenth century an American engineer, Robert Fulton, had designed the Nautilus (from which Verne took his name), which should have been the first motor-powered submarine, but remained at the project stage. The “direct” inspiration for the Nautilus came from Plongeura submarine equipped with a compressed air engine, which Verne was able to admire at the 1867 Paris Universal Exhibition.
The fact that submarines already existed, however, does not mean that Verne had not used his imagination: the submarines of the time were simple prototypes, very different from Nautilus imagined by the author, which actually had some modern features, such as electric motors.
Paris of the twentieth century
Another case of “prediction” concerns a novel written by Verne in 1863, Paris in the 20th century, which was rejected by the publisher to whom it was proposed and was published only in 1994. The novel is set in French capital in 1960. The author describes a city in which you can admire glass skyscrapers, high-speed trains, a global communications network, gas-powered cars, a means of exchanging information similar to modern faxes. Furthermore, the author imagines that there was a lighthouse in the place where the Eiffel Tower stands today (not yet built in 1863) and that a glass building stood in front of the Louvre, where the pyramid actually stands today. Again, some characteristics of the Paris imagined by Verne are similar to real technological developments.
How did Verne “predict the future”?
As we have seen, the nineteenth century was a century of great progress. Many citizens imagined that technological evolution would continue and produce increasingly astonishing results, as, in many respects, it actually happened. Verne, moreover, was a technology enthusiast and, in many cases, he understood in which direction progress was moving. Therefore he could imagine space capsules and submarines similar to those that would actually be built. However, the writer still worked with his own imagination and, consequently, the futuristic scenarios he imagined, despite having some elements in common with reality, are different in many respects. Suffice it to say that, in the twentieth-century Paris imagined by Verne, quill pens were used and clothes made of metal were worn.
