As children, many of us read books Jules Verne, an unsurpassed master and storyteller of fantastic stories, geographer, explorer and traveler. Who among us has not dreamed of exploring the underwater world with the fearless Captain Nemo, flying to the moon, or at least traveling around the world in a hot air balloon?

But at the time when he wrote his stories, few people thought that all this was possible. And few people know today that out of 108 fantastic ideas of this man, in the 21st century. Only ten will remain unrealized. The most important question still remains unanswered: “How did he know all this?”

To recognition and glory in a hot air balloon

“The time will come when science will outstrip imagination,” Jules Verne assured his contemporaries. Fame came to him only at the age of 35, when the novel “Five Weeks in a Balloon” was published; after that, 60 more novels were written and almost every one contained a new prediction. But this does not mean at all that the Frenchman had the gift of clairvoyance and could predict the future - he was just very interested in science, closely followed the advanced achievements of the time and constantly communicated with scientists. And it was precisely this insight, coupled with his good imagination, that made him a brilliant science fiction writer.

Jules Verne dreamed that one day man would fly to the moon

However, Jules Verne did not intend to limit himself to “balloon flights”; his thoughts flew much further. In the novels “Lord of the World” and “Robur the Conqueror” he described what an airplane and helicopter should look like, lifting a person into the sky, and in “The Extraordinary Adventures of the Barsak Expedition” he told readers what an airplane with a variable thrust vector is.

The writer’s boldest “prophecy” is considered to be the assumption of a human flight into space, to the Moon. The heroes of his novel "From the Earth to the Moon" set off to explore the Earth's satellite on a "lunar cannon". By the way, the Frenchman not only predicted the journey and landing of man on the Moon, but also calculated the approximate cost of this enterprise. In addition, Verne accurately described the size of the rocket, its departure location (Florida), and even its three-person crew. Intergalactic travel is also described in his novel Hector Servadac.

The Mysterious World of Captain Nemo

Jules Verne's contemporaries claimed that he did not like to be called a fortune teller. “These are simple coincidences, and they can be explained very simply. When I talk about any scientific phenomenon, I first examine all the sources available to me and draw conclusions based on many facts. As for the accuracy of the descriptions, in this regard I am obliged to all kinds extracts from books, newspapers, magazines, various abstracts and reports, which I have prepared for future use and are gradually replenished.”

The world's first nuclear submarine was symbolically dubbed "Nautilus"

This is exactly what happened with the well-known Nautilus submarine - already at that time, scientists and shipbuilders were conducting experiments and trying to build submarines that could sail for a long time. Moreover, while Verne began writing the novel 20 Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, the first mechanical submarine, christened the Diver, was launched in France. The writer did not hide at all that he was collecting all the necessary information about her. For example, the fact that the ship can dive to a depth of no more than 10 m, a crew of 12 people can hardly fit inside it, and the underwater speed reaches only 4 knots per hour.

The only thing left to do was a flight of fancy. Captain Nemo's Nautilus has undergone significant changes. First of all, it was as spacious as an ocean liner. Secondly, the depth of its immersion was measured in kilometers, and the speed reached 50 knots - even nuclear submarines of the 21st century. are not able to compete with the great Nautilus. Yes, Jules Verne got carried away a little and went too far in his fantasies, but it should be noted that he accurately predicted the general trends in the development of submarines. By the way, the world’s first nuclear submarine was symbolically dubbed “Nautilus” by its creators.

What is the connection between the electric chair and the Eiffel Tower?

The French science fiction writer passed away at the beginning of the twentieth century, in 1905, and the horrors of world wars were unknown to him. However, like any reasonable person, he was already thinking at that time about what destructive power weapons have and what terrible conflicts their improvement and spread could lead to. In Five Hundred Million Begums, he touched on this theme by telling the story of a German professor named Schulze, an obsessive nationalist bent on world domination who invented a giant cannon capable of hitting targets at great distances using poisonous gas projectiles. Very similar to modern chemical weapons, isn't it? Well, Schulze himself resembles none other than Hitler, whose rise to power Jules Verne, it turns out, simply anticipated.

Today, the novel "Paris in the 20th Century" is called by some writers the first dystopia

Today we call him a brilliant science fiction writer, but there was a moment when the writer was dubbed mediocre and was almost deprived of the opportunity to do what he loved. This happened with his second novel, “Paris in the 20th Century,” written in 1863. In it, the then little-known author painted a picture of what the world and, in particular, Paris would look like a century later.

The heroes of the novel drive around Paris in the 1960s in cars and subways. "Electric candelabra" on the Champs-Elysees illuminate huge advertising signs, and an openwork tower, which will not be built until 1889, hovers above the city. Doesn't remind you of anything? Did Eiffel himself tell Verne about his idea to build a “beauty”?

In addition, there is “a machine that makes copies of letters, and 500 employees continuously send them to addresses,” as well as “a photographic apparatus that allows you to send a facsimile of any text or drawing, to sign bills or contracts with a partner located at a distance of 5 thousand leagues ". “It takes a matter of seconds to contact America from Europe” - this telephone network has entangled the planet.

In the “Paris of the Future,” skyscrapers rise and not a single institution can do without “an instrument somewhat reminiscent of a large piano that can carry out any calculations,” and criminals are executed using... an electric discharge. And who knows what else the brilliant writer would have come up with and what stories he would have written if he had lived a little longer.

Jules Verne also predicted the Eiffel Tower

Jules Verne's predictions come true

Electric chair ("Paris in the 20th century") Submarine ("20 thousand leagues under the sea") Airplane ("Lord of the World") and variable thrust vector aircraft ("The Extraordinary Adventures of the Barsak Expedition") Helicopter ("Robourg the Conqueror") Space ships and manned flights into space, including to the Moon and interplanetary ("From the Earth to the Moon", "Hector Serdavak") "Lace" tower in the center of Europe ("Paris in the 20th century") Video communications and television ("Paris in XX century") Construction of Turksib ("Claudius Bombarnak. A reporter's notebook about the opening of the great Trans-Asian Highway (From Russia to Beijing)") Nuclear weapons ("Five hundred million begums") Computer, copier and fax ("Paris in the XX century").

"Ogonyok", 11/1902

Looking back at the past century, it is, of course, not difficult to predict that the coming century will be fraught with great improvements. In fact, even fifty years ago people admired the use of steam as an ingenious innovation and believed in its immortality. Now we complain about the unsatisfactory nature of steam and have found incomparably better substitutes for it. The steamship and locomotive were barely a hundred years old; the matches are not yet seventy. But there are prophets whose words deserve serious attention and trust. This is, first of all, Jules Verne, the founder of the naturalistic novel. This talented writer is now seventy-three years old; he has recently lost his sight; but with unflagging energy he devotes himself to literary pursuits, dictating to his wife a new novel, almost the hundredth. In his prophecies, Jules Verne, as we know, predicted decades ago what art and science have only now arrived at. The "steam house" is a prototype of the automobile; "Nautilus" of Captain Nemo ("20,000 miles under water") - a submarine; “80 days around the world” predetermined the rapid development of communication methods; "Begum's Millions" - the growth of metallurgy, trusts and some philanthropic ideas; and “Five Weeks in a Balloon” can be put in connection with a projected hot air balloon flight across the Sahara. At a glance, this is what Jules Verne thinks about the progress of the twentieth century.

“The coming century,” the venerable writer told an interviewer, “will surpass the wildest assumptions in the field of so-called “scientific wizardry.” By this term I denote the application of mechanical forces; but this is not the task of the future: there are still many goals left. I cannot calmly hear only about the successes that supposedly marked the last fifty or sixty years. It is clear that we have railways, telegraphs, telephones, rich factory production, antiseptics in surgery, cheap comfort, etc. But a characteristic feature of our generation is timidity in using what science gives us.

History teaches us that humanity is reluctant to leave the beaten path and is afraid of everything that did not exist before. For example, we have a telephone and a lifting machine. But there is still one residential telephone for almost 10,000 city residents. It is also difficult to understand why a telephone is a luxury item. But we must hope that the growing generations will be alien to our prejudices. The twentieth century will prove itself bold, and create an era in theory and its implementation. A little more time, and our telephones and telegraphs will seem ridiculous, and our railways will seem too noisy and desperately slow. Of course, a car cannot replace rail tracks; their spheres are completely different. But they will travel on rails at an incomparably greater speed, up to 300 - 500 versts per hour. The railways will serve as the main arteries, and the road lines as the capillary vessel through which culture will penetrate into the remotest corners of the village. We are still experiencing extraordinary developments in railway communication. Nobody wanted to believe in the implementation of my idea of ​​​​building a Siberian road. Today this path is already ready, and in fifteen years, perhaps, other great strategic paths will be ready. The Kapstadt-Cairo line should be considered completed. Alexandria is connected, on the one hand, with Jerusalem, Beirut, Smyrna, and on the other, with Constantinople. From Morocco to Gibraltar the road will pass through a tunnel; and the Calle Due tunnel, 32 miles long, will in two decades give way to other structures through which England will enter underwater communication with Belgium and Ireland. After all, even now projectors are dreaming of a tunnel under the Atlantic Ocean, between Brest and New York. And it's not crazy. One has only to collect the necessary millions, and, thirty years later, everything will be ready. But when something is really needed, there is no stopping for money. In Asia, the interests of the two great powers require the construction of routes: from Bombay to Constantinople, through Balochistan and Persia, and from Peshawer (India) to Bukhara via Kabul. In America, of course, a great northern and southern line will be built along Mexico and Isthmus, with branches from Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Peru - Ecuador and Venezuela."

Illustration for the book “From the Earth to the Moon Directly in 97 Hours 20 Minutes” / Public Domain

Jules Verne beautifully depicts the future formation of the traveler; without leaving the sleeping car, you will be able to travel around the world. “No matter how cramped our earthly cell is, we are not able to even once feel its walls. Miserable, limited existence! The novelist imagines the road of the twentieth century in this form: there will be no curves, no capricious ascents. After all, two Americans are already designing a line from Chicago to St. Louis, straight as an arrow: this task will be made easier by tunnels and bridges. Only over very large areas will anachronisms be preserved. Jules Verne attaches great importance to the use of water energy: over the past five years it has reached widespread proportions in America, France and Germany; the power of Niagara Falls is already being partially exploited; France uses 1½ million horsepower, Germany a million. The Rhone River gave Geneva the opportunity to acquire cheap electricity. But the waterfalls that exist on our planet can provide six times the amount of motor energy that people now have at their disposal. And the costs of using this energy would be one-twelfth of the costs caused by the use of coal.

Locomotive 1901 / Public Domain

Jules Verne predicted that everyone would move on tires, tourists would freely penetrate into the depths of currently inaccessible countries, and everyone would have their own flying machine, like the modern bicycle.

Once again Jules Verne spoke with his interlocutor about cars. Street traffic should increasingly lose its noisy, bazaar character. Everyone and everything will move on tires. Like the heroes of The Steam House, tourists will freely penetrate into the depths of currently inaccessible countries. At the same time, aeronautics problems are resolved. Santos-Dumont's experiments, no matter how far from perfect they are, are, however, a favorable indication in this matter. But the center of the problem is in the motor, which would not determine the increase in the ball itself. You need a motor powered by dynamite or some other explosive. But a hot air balloon will never replace reliable land communication, since for long journeys air travel is both expensive and risky. On the contrary, for household use, so to speak, a flying machine is a very valuable service, and the time will come when everyone will start their own machine, like the current bicycle.

Aviation pioneer Santos Dumont tests his aircraft / Public Domain

Finally, the implementation of the Nautilus - the construction of submarines - promises man a new kingdom, perhaps even richer than the earthly one. They will discover new flora and fauna, new continents; a new sport will be born; hitherto unknown perspectives will open up and new sciences will be created. The ocean floor will become the subject of widespread study and a destination for travel; it will have its own martyrs, its own tragedies. A rich Frenchwoman has already managed to settle down in the underwater kingdom with the help of a yacht specially built for her. Three Russian sailors working in diving suits to raise a sunken ship were attacked by a school of sharks. “Can hunting tigers compare to hunting sharks? - exclaims Jules Verne. “Instead of chasing game in Africa and India, the coming generation will take care of the animal population of the sea thickets. The day will come when people will be able to exploit the depths of the ocean in the same way as gold mines are now. The legislator will create land rights to the ocean floor, and underwater colonies will spread out under the cover of reliable mines.

“My life,” Jules Verne finished his conversation, “was full of real and imaginary events.” I saw many wonderful things, but even more amazing ones were created by my imagination. And yet I feel that I had to make my earthly journey too soon; and my heart is full of sadness that I have to say goodbye to life on the threshold of an era that promises so many miracles!

Readers of the novel, written in 1863, by the power of imagination are transported by J. Verne to Paris in 1960 and describe in detail such things that no one would have guessed about the invention in the first half of the 19th century: cars move along the city streets (though in J. Verne they they do not run on gasoline, but on hydrogen to keep the environment clean), criminals are executed using the electric chair, and piles of documents are transmitted using a device very reminiscent of a modern fax machine.

Probably, these predictions seemed too fantastic to the publisher Etzel, or maybe he considered the novel too gloomy - one way or another, the manuscript was returned to the author and was eventually lost among his papers for a century and a half.

In 1863, the famous French writer Jules Verne published the first novel in the “Extraordinary Travels” series, “Five Weeks in a Balloon,” in the Journal for Education and Leisure. The success of the novel inspired the writer; he decided to continue to work in this “key,” accompanying the romantic adventures of his heroes with increasingly skillful descriptions of incredible, but nevertheless carefully thought out scientific miracles born of his imagination. The cycle continued with novels:

• "Journeys to the Center of the Earth" (1864)
• "From the Earth to the Moon" (1865)
• "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" (1869)
• "The Mysterious Island" (1874), etc.

In total, Jules Verne wrote about 70 novels. In them, he predicted many scientific discoveries and inventions in a variety of fields, including submarines, scuba gear, television and space flight. Jules Verne foresaw practical applications:

• Electric motors
• Electric heating devices
• Electric lamps
• Loudspeakers
• Transmitting images over a distance
• Electrical protection of buildings

Incredible similarities between fiction and reality

The remarkable works of the French writer had an important cognitive and educational effect for many generations of people. Thus, one of the phrases expressed by the science fiction writer in the novel “Around the Moon” regarding the fall of a projectile on the lunar surface contained the idea of ​​jet propulsion in the void, an idea later developed in the theories of K. E. Tsiolkovsky. It is not surprising that the founder of astronautics repeated more than once:

“The desire for space travel was instilled in me by Jules Verne. He awakened the brain in this direction.”

Space flight in details very close to reality was first described by J. Verne in the essays “From the Earth to the Moon” (1865) and “Around the Moon” (1870). This famous duology is an outstanding example of “seeing through time.” It was created 100 years before manned flight around the Moon was put into practice.

But what is most striking is the amazing similarity between the fictional flight (J. Verne’s flight of the Columbiad projectile) and the real one (meaning the lunar odyssey of the Apollo 8 spacecraft, which in 1968 made the first manned flight around the Moon ).

Both spacecraft - both literary and real - had a crew of three people. Both launched in December from the island of Florida, both entered lunar orbit (Apollo, however, made eight full orbits around the Moon, while its fantastic “predecessor” made only one).

Apollo, having flown around the Moon, returned to the opposite course with the help of rocket engines. The crew of the Columbiana solved this problem in a similar way, using rocket power... signal flares. Thus, both ships, with the help of rocket engines, switched to a return trajectory, so that again in December they would splash down in the same area of ​​the Pacific Ocean, and the distance between the splashdown points was only 4 kilometers! The dimensions and mass of the two spacecraft are also almost the same: the height of the Columbiada projectile is 3.65 m, weight is 5,547 kg; the height of the Apollo capsule is 3.60 m, weight – 5,621 kg.

The great science fiction writer foresaw everything! Even the names of the heroes of the French writer - Barbicane, Nicole and Ardan - are consonant with the names of the American astronauts - Borman, Lovell and Anders...

No matter how fantastic all this sounds, this was Jules Verne, or rather his predictions.

No matter what I write, no matter what I invent, all this will always be below the actual capabilities of a person. The time will come when science will outstrip imagination.

Jules Verne

Jules Verne is considered not only one of the founders of science fiction, but also a writer who, like no one else, knew how to predict the future. There are few authors who would do as much to popularize science and progress as the great Frenchman. Today, in the 21st century, we can judge how often he was right - or wrong.

From a cannon to the moon

Verne sent three travelers to the Moon - the same number were on the crew of each Apollo. The Columbiad projectile was aluminum - and it was aluminum alloys that were used to create the Apollo lander.

Young Jules Verne

One of Verne's boldest prophecies is space travel. Of course, the Frenchman was not the first author to send his heroes to the celestial spheres. But before him, literary astronauts flew only miraculously. For example, in the middle of the 17th century, the English priest Francis Godwin wrote the utopia “Man on the Moon”, the hero of which went to the satellite with the help of fantastic birds. Except that Cyrano de Bergerac flew to the Moon not only on horseback, but also with the help of a primitive analogue of a rocket. However, writers did not think about the scientific basis for space flight until the 19th century.

The first who seriously undertook to send a man into space without the help of “devilishness” was precisely Jules Verne - he naturally relied on the power of the human mind. However, in the sixties of the last century, people could only dream of space exploration, and science had not yet seriously addressed this issue. The French writer had to fantasize solely at his own peril and risk. Verne decided that the best way to send a man into space would be a giant cannon, the projectile of which would serve as a passenger module.

One of the main problems of the “lunar cannon” project is associated with the projectile. Verne himself understood perfectly well that the astronauts would experience serious overloads at the moment of the shot. This can be seen from the fact that the heroes of the novel “From the Earth to the Moon” tried to protect themselves with the help of soft wall coverings and mattresses. Needless to say, all this in reality would not have saved a person who decided to repeat the feat of the members of the “Cannon Club”.

However, even if the travelers managed to ensure safety, two more practically insoluble problems would remain. Firstly, a gun capable of launching a projectile of such mass into space must be simply fantastic in length. Secondly, even today it is impossible to provide a cannon projectile with a starting speed that allows it to overcome the gravity of the Earth. Finally, the writer did not take into account air resistance - although against the background of other problems with the idea of ​​​​a space gun, this already seems like a trifle.

At the same time, it is impossible to overestimate the influence that Verne’s novels had on the origin and development of astronautics. The French writer predicted not only the journey to the Moon, but also some of its details - for example, the dimensions of the “passenger module”, the number of crew members and the approximate cost of the project. Verne became one of the main inspirations of the space age. Konstantin Tsiolkovsky spoke about him:

The desire for space travel was instilled in me by the famous dreamer J. Verne. He awakened the brain in this direction.

Ironically, it was Tsiolkovsky at the beginning of the 20th century who finally substantiated the incompatibility of Verne’s idea with manned astronautics.

The ISS crew delivered Jules Verne's manuscripts into orbit

Bringing Fantasy to Life: Space Gun

Almost a hundred years after the release of Man on the Moon, the space gun project has found new life. In 1961, the US and Canadian departments of defense launched the joint HARP project. His goal was to create guns that would allow scientific and military satellites to be launched into low orbit. It was assumed that the “supergun” would significantly reduce the cost of launching satellites - to only a few hundred dollars per kilogram of useful weight.

By 1967, a team led by ballistic weapons specialist Gerald Bull had created a dozen prototypes of a space gun and learned to launch projectiles to an altitude of 180 kilometers - despite the fact that in the United States, space flight is considered to be beyond 100 kilometers. However, political differences between the United States and Canada led to the closure of the project. Now the HARP cannon is abandoned and overgrown with rust.

This failure did not put an end to the idea of ​​a space gun. Until the end of the 20th century, several more attempts were made to create it. But so far no one has managed to launch a cannon shell into Earth orbit.

Submarine

In fact, Jules Verne most often anticipated not the emergence of new technologies, but the direction of development of existing ones. This can be most clearly demonstrated by the example of the famous Nautilus.

The first projects and even working prototypes of underwater vessels appeared long before Verne himself was born. Moreover, by the time he began work on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the first mechanical submarine, which was christened the Diver, had already been launched in France, and Verne was collecting information about it before he began writing the novel.

But what was the “Diver”? A crew of 12 people could hardly fit on board the ship; it could dive no more than 10 meters and reach a speed of only 4 knots underwater.

Against this background, the characteristics and capabilities of the Nautilus looked absolutely incredible. Comfortable as an ocean liner, and perfectly suited for long expeditions, the submarine had a diving depth of several kilometers and a top speed of 50 knots.

Fantastic! And so far. As happened more than once with Verne, he overestimated the capabilities of not only contemporary but also future technologies. Even nuclear submarines of the 21st century are not able to compete in speed with the Nautilus and repeat the maneuvers that it performed playfully.

Nor can they go without refueling and replenishing supplies for as long as the Nautilus could. And, of course, today’s submarines can never be handled by one person - and Nemo continued to sail on the Nautilus even after he lost his entire crew. On the other hand, the ship did not have an air regeneration system; to replenish its supply, Captain Nemo needed to rise to the surface every five days.

Despite all this, one cannot help but admit that Verne foresaw the general trends in the development of submarines with amazing accuracy. The ability of submarines to make long autonomous journeys, large-scale battles between them, exploring the depths of the sea with their help, and even going under the ice to the Pole (the North Pole, of course, not the South Pole - Verne was wrong here) - all this has become a reality. True, only in the second half of the 20th century with the advent of technologies that Verne had never even dreamed of - in particular, nuclear energy. The world's first nuclear submarine was symbolically dubbed the Nautilus.

In 2006, Exomos created a working submarine that is as close as possible to the literary Nautilus, at least in terms of appearance. The ship is used to entertain tourists visiting Dubai.

Bringing Fantasy to Life: Floating City

In the novel “The Floating Island,” the French novelist made a prediction that has not yet come true, but very soon may come true. The action of this book took place on an artificial island, on which the richest people on Earth tried to create a man-made paradise for themselves.

The Seasteading Institute organization is ready to implement this idea these days. It intends to create not just one, but several floating city-states by 2014. They will have sovereignty and live by their own liberal laws, which should make them extremely attractive for business. One of the sponsors of the project is the founder of the PayPal payment system Peter Thiel, known for his libertarian views.

Aircrafts

To talk about the conquest of the air element, Verne came up with Robur the conqueror. This unrecognized genius is somewhat reminiscent of Nemo, but devoid of romance and nobility. First, Robur created the Albatross aircraft, which rose into the air using propellers. Although outwardly the Albatross looked more like an ordinary ship, it can rightfully be considered the “grandfather” of helicopters.

And in the novel “Lord of the World,” Robur developed an absolutely incredible vehicle. His "Terrible" was a universal machine: it moved with equal ease through the air, land, water and even under water - and at the same time it could move at a speed of about 200 miles per hour (this sounds funny these days, but Verne believed that such The car will become invisible to the human eye). This universal machine remained the writer’s invention. Is science lagging behind Verne? It's not just that. Such a station wagon is simply impractical and unprofitable.

Attempts have been made to create a hybrid aircraft and submarine. And, oddly enough, successful ones. In the 1930s, Soviet designers tried to “teach” a seaplane how to scuba dive, but the project was not completed. But in the USA in 1968, at the New York industrial exhibition, a prototype of the Aeroship flying submarine was demonstrated. This technical wonder has never found practical application.

Hitler and weapons of mass destruction

Jules Verne passed away in 1905 and did not see the horror of the world wars. But he, like many of his contemporaries, sensed the approaching era of large-scale conflicts and the emergence of new destructive types of weapons. And, of course, the French science fiction writer tried to predict what they would turn out to be like.

Verne paid serious attention to the theme of war and weapons in the novel “Five Hundred Million Begums.” He made the main villain of the book the German professor Schulze, an obsessive nationalist with a thirst for world domination. Schulze invented a giant cannon capable of hitting a target many kilometers away, and developed poisonous gas projectiles for it. Thus, Verne anticipated the advent of chemical weapons. And in the novel “Flag of the Motherland,” the Frenchman even depicted the “fulgator Rock” super-shell, capable of destroying any structure within a radius of thousands of square meters - the analogy with a nuclear bomb literally suggests itself.

At the same time, Vern preferred to look into the future with optimism. The dangerous inventions in his books, as a rule, destroyed their own creators - just as the insidious Schulze died from a freezing bomb. In reality, alas, anyone suffered from weapons of mass destruction, but not their creators.

The gas created by Professor Schulze could instantly freeze all living things. But Hitler's predecessor was let down by the unreliability of his inventions.

The appearance of the 20th century

At the dawn of his career, in 1863, the then little-known Jules Verne wrote the novel Paris in the Twentieth Century, in which he tried to predict what the world would look like a century later. Unfortunately, perhaps Verne’s most prophetic work not only did not receive recognition during the writer’s lifetime, but also saw the light only at the end of that very 20th century.

The first reader of “Paris in the 20th Century” - the future publisher of “Extraordinary Journeys” - Pierre-Jules Etzel rejected the manuscript. Partly due to purely literary shortcomings - the writer was still inexperienced - and partly because Etzel considered Verne’s forecasts too incredible and pessimistic. The editor was confident that readers would find the book completely implausible. The novel was first published only in 1994, when readers could already appreciate the visionary insight of the science fiction writer.

In the Paris of “tomorrow,” skyscrapers rose, people traveled on high-speed electric trains, and criminals were executed by electric shock. Banks used computers that instantly performed complex arithmetic operations. Of course, when describing the 20th century, the writer was based on the achievements of his contemporaries. For example, the entire planet is entangled in a global information network, but it is based on an ordinary telegraph.

But even without wars, the world of the 20th century looks pretty gloomy. We are accustomed to believe that Verne was inspired by scientific and technological progress and glorified it. And “Paris in the 20th Century” shows us a society where high technology is combined with a miserable life. People only care about progress and profit. Culture has been consigned to the dustbin of history, music, literature and painting have been forgotten. Here, fortunately, Verne greatly exaggerated the colors.

Among other things, Paris in the 20th Century anticipated the “theory of containment” developed by the American diplomat George Kennan only in the 1940s. Verne assumed that with the advent of weapons capable of destroying the entire planet in several countries, wars would come to an end. As we know, the science fiction writer was in a hurry here: there are plenty of local armed conflicts today.

* * *

Of course, many of his predictions now seem naive. But few prophets in history managed to predict so accurately how technical thought and progress would develop.

Contemporaries of Verne

Albert Robida: Visionary Artist

If a Frenchman of the late 19th - early 20th centuries were asked who most convincingly describes the future, then the name “Albert Robida” would be mentioned alongside the name “Jules Verne”. This writer and artist also made amazing guesses about the technologies of the future, and he was credited with an almost supernatural gift of foresight.

Robida predicted that not a single home of the future would be complete without a “telephonoscope,” which would broadcast the latest news 24 hours a day. He described devices that resemble prototypes of modern communicators. Along with Verne, Robida was one of the first to talk about chemical weapons and super-powerful bombs, which, despite their small size, would have incredible destructive power. In his drawings and books, Robida often depicted flying cars that would replace ground transport. That prediction hasn't come true—yet. Let's hope that over time it will come true.

Thomas Edison: The Word of a Scientist

Not only science fiction writers tried to predict in which direction scientific thought would develop. In 1911, the outstanding inventor Thomas Edison, a contemporary of Verne, was asked to tell how he saw the world a hundred years later.

Of course, he gave the most accurate forecast as far as his area was concerned. Steam, he said, was on its last days, and in the future all equipment, in particular high-speed trains, will run exclusively on electricity. And the main means of transportation will be “giant flying machines capable of moving at a speed of two hundred miles per hour.”

Edison believed that in the 21st century all houses and their interior decoration would be made of steel, which would then be given a resemblance to certain materials. The books, according to the inventor, will be made of ultra-light nickel. So in one volume a couple of centimeters thick and weighing several hundred grams, more than forty thousand pages can fit - for example, the entire Encyclopedia Britannica.

Finally, Edison prophesied the invention of... the philosopher's stone. He believed that humanity would learn to easily turn iron into gold, which would become so cheap that we could even make taxis and ocean liners from it.

Alas, the imagination of even such outstanding people as Edison is greatly limited by the framework of their contemporary world. Even the forecasts of science fiction writers who wrote only fifteen to twenty years ago are already difficult to perceive without a condescending smile. Against this background, Edison's foresight looks impressive.

Jules Verne Scientific discoveries of a science fiction writer

Geography teacher "MKOU Sitsevskaya Secondary School"

Zvonareva I. Yu.

2015

Jules Verne 1828−1905

In total J. Verne wrote about

70 novels.

In them, he predicted scientific discoveries and inventions in a variety of fields, including submarines, scuba gear, television and space flight.

Of the 108 scientific foresights of J. Verne, more than half were implemented.

However, the main merit of this writer is the creation of the science fiction novel genre.

Verne's ideas influenced

K. E. Tsiolkovsky, V. A. Obruchev, D. I. Mendeleev, I. A. Efremova .

Jules Verne

Robur the Conqueror

The birth of J. Verne as a science fiction writer can be considered the autumn of 1862, when he wrote the novel “Five Weeks in a Balloon

The writer talked in it about the life of the capital of France in the second half of the 20th century. And what’s surprising is that he correctly predicted the development of the city. He was ahead of time by more than a hundred years.

" Whatever I write, whatever I invent, everything it will always be below actual capabilities person. The time will come when science will outstrip imagination." Jules Verne

One of the most famous predictions of the French writer is the book “Paris in the Twentieth Century,” which was found and published only in 1994. It instantly became a bestseller, and modern scholars realized that Verne was a talented seer.

It described skyscrapers, electric trains with enormous speeds, banks with computers, and even a global information network, albeit based on the telegraph.

And his book “From Russia to Beijing” quite accurately describes the construction of the trans-Asian highway .

Jules Verne was one of the first daredevils to talk about space flight. Writers and even scientists did not think about this until the nineteenth century.

The Columbiad shell was aluminum in the novel "From the Earth to the Moon" And it was aluminum alloys that were used to create the Apollo landing module.

“Yes, yes, there was a whole layer of oil on the water, and this oil floated along with the current of the Angara to Irkutsk.”

Signs of oil on Lake Baikal have been noticed for a long time. And the writer made her float along the Angara in large numbers.

The only “Russian” novel is “An Extraordinary Journey from Moscow to Irkutsk or Mikhail Strogoff,” which reflects Siberia: nature, people, everyday life. This book was first published in Paris in 1875

The descriptions of the cities, rivers, and villages encountered by the heroes of the novel are given by the author in the main. The description of the Nizhny Novgorod fair is distinguished by its picturesqueness, depth and sufficient plausibility; it is a picture complete colors, humor.

This year's work is Jules Verne's "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea." celebrates its 145th anniversary.

In 1898, Jules Verne mentioned in an interview with journalist A. Brusson that he was inspired to think about the novel by Georges Sand. In a letter written in the fall of 1865, she advised him to write a book about traveling in the depths of the ocean in a submarine.

Undoubtedly, the writing of the novel was influenced by Jules Verne’s close acquaintance with the inventor of the “semi-submersible ship” Jean-François Conseil. The author gave his name to one of the heroes of the novel. And the name “Nautilus” was given to the submarine that the American inventor Robert Fulton offered to Napoleon at the beginning of the 19th century as a secret weapon against England.

By force of circumstances, the professor reveals a secret that has worried the world - the monster turns out to be an underwater ship, a miracle of engineering, the insight of a brilliant inventor.

The creator and owner of the underwater ship called “Nautilus”, the ruler of the entire underwater world is Captain Nemo. This is exactly how he introduced himself to Professor Aronnax, obviously not wanting to reveal his real name (Latin nemo means no one).

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is an amazing circumnavigation of the world, made by the inhabitants of an underwater ship, perfectly suited for both recreation and scientific pursuits. The captain took with him to the depths of the seas a collection of painting masterpieces, a huge library and supplemented all this with a collection of wonders found at the bottom of the oceans.

However, he did not completely break the connection with those who remained on land: from time to time the Nautilus approaches the shore, and mysterious boxes are handed over to someone from board the ship. And Professor Aronnax understands that N. is helping those who are fighting for freedom by giving them the treasures of the Nautilus.

Novel AND . Verna"Mysterious Island "

The new underwater laboratory will make it a reality novels Jules

Three Rings Design office. Similar to "Nautilus" from the novel by Jules Verne

In the novels of Jude Verne, readers found not only an enthusiastic description of technology and travel, but bright, lively images of noble heroes, cute eccentric scientists.

This is a worthy example to follow

modern youth.