Jules Verne was an amazing writer who predicted the science future of the world.

Some of the inventions he imagined were created later in his lifetime, but some are still to be invented. He was popular with all kinds of readers: rich, poor, young, old, scientists, artists and rulers. He wrote over 80 books mostly before 1900 and a few of the things he described were: helicopters, modern weapons, movies with sound, television and rockets.

Jules Verne Museum

Early Years
Jules Gabriel Verne was born on February 8, 1828 in Nantes, France. He was the oldest of five children. He had three sisters: Mathilde, Anna and Marie, and one younger brother Paul. His father was a lawyer and, much like the hero of Around the World in Eighty Days, he was precise about everything. He was known for his honesty. His mother, Sophie Allotte, came from a family of ship builders and sea captains.

A Writing Career Begins

Jules's father wanted him to be educated as a lawyer, but he refused to do any work but writing. In 1848 he and a friend went to Paris. His father gave Jules money to support himself because he was supposed to be studying law. What Jules really wanted to do was sell his manuscripts and plays . His father came to Paris to check on him and stopped paying his allowance when he discovered that Jules was just writing.

Verne was forced to support himself as a stockbroker, which he hated despite being somewhat successful at it. During this period, he met Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas, who offered him writing advice.

Verne's situation improved when he met Pierre-Jules Hetzel, one of the more important French publishers of the 19th century, who also published Victor Hugo, George Sand, and Erckmann-Chatrian, among others. They formed an excellent writer-publisher team.

Michel Verne

Verne also met Honorine de Viane Morel, a widow with two daughters. They were married on January 10, 1857. With her encouragement, he continued to write and actively looked for a publisher. On August 3, 1861, their son, Michel Verne was born. Michel married an actress over Verne's objections, had two children by an underage mistress, and buried himself in debts. The relationship between father and son improved as Michel grew older.

Honorine de Viane Morel

From that point, Verne published two or more volumes a year. The most successful of these are: Voyage au centre de la Terre (Journey to the Center of the Earth, 1864); De la Terre la Lune (From the Earth to the Moon, 1865); Vingt mille lieues sous les mers (Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, 1869); Le tour du monde en quatrevingts jours (Around the World in Eighty Days), which first appeared in Le Temps in 1872. The series is collectively known as the Voyages Extraordinaires ("extraordinary voyages").

Later Years
Jules Verne took up residence in Amiens in 1871. Jules Verne stayed prolific throughout the 1870s, writing The Adventures of a Special Correspondent (1872), The Survivors of the Chancellor (1875), Michael Strogoff (1876), and Dick Sand: A Captain at Fifteen (1878), among several others. After Verne's long run with personal and professional success, however, he would find the 1880s to be less kind.

In 1886, Verne's favorite nephew, Gaston, attempted to murder Verne. He fired two shots from a pistol, and one stuck Verne's shin, giving him a limp for the rest of his life. Gaston turned out to be sufferring from mental illness, and spent his life in a mental institution. A week after Verne was shot, Jules Hetzel died an event that devastated the author. To add to his misery, Verne's mother died the following year.

Jules Hetzel

He was later elected city councilman in 1888. In 1889, Jules Verne presided over the opening of the Amiens circus, including a courthouse, a police station and a museum dedicated to the history of Picardy.

In 1905, while ill with diabetes, Verne died at his home in Amiens, France and was buried in La Madeleine Cemetery in Amiens.

In 1863, Jules Verne wrote a novel called Paris in the Twentieth Century about a young man who lives in a world of glass skyscrapers, high-speed trains, gaspowered automobiles, calculators, and a worldwide communications network, yet cannot find happiness and comes to a tragic end. Hetzel thought the novel's pessimism would damage Verne's then-booming career, and suggested he wait 20 years to publish it. Verne put the manuscript in a safe, where it was discovered by his great-grandson in 1989. It was published in 1994.

Nowadays, many places in Amiens are named after Jules Verne. "Universit Jules Verne, Jules Verne Boulevard, Maison Jules Verne, Muse Jules Verne, Jules Verne Cirque. Also, there are many statues of Jules Verne scattered in Amiens.

Jules Verne Monument

Jules Verne house in Amiens