The French author has given us some surprisingly accurate predictions about the technological developments of the future. His stories have inspired many scientists and inventors. When Jules Verne died in 1905, powered aircraft flight, which he had made the focus of his book The Conqueror (1886), had already become a reality. Just two years earlier, the Wright brothers achieved the first manned flight in human history.

However, many of Verne’s predictions of world-changing technologies remained the stuff of science fiction until his death. The possibility of traveling around the Moon by spacecraft, as recounted in his novel From the Earth to the Moon (1865), seemed a very distant scenario at the time. However, it did not become a reality until 60 years later, with NASA’s Apollo 8 mission in 1968. Verne’s genius lies precisely in his vivid imagination of how the then existing possibilities in technology could evolve and his exciting stories.

This combination of fact and fantasy made Verne’s novels ideal for developing an interest in science and technology. And that is precisely why his stories have inspired countless scientists and inventors to this day. Some examples:

Simon Lake (1866-1945), submarine designer

Simon Lake was an American shipbuilder who designed some of the first submarines for the United States Navy. He mentioned that he owes a lot to Verne, specifically the novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1869-1870), which he first read at the age of 10-11. Lake was fascinated by the Nautilus and decided to build a similar submarine. He designed the submarine Argonaut, which successfully completed a 1,000-mile voyage in 1898. Lake then received a congratulatory telegram from Verne himself.

Later, Verne’s grandson, Jean-Jules Verne, was invited to become the “underwriter” of one of Lake’s most advanced submarines. This was even renamed the Nautilus, in honor of the French writer, ahead of an Arctic expedition in 1931.

Alberto Santos-Dumont (1873-1932), aeronautical engineer and inventor

Brazilian inventor Alberto Santos-Dumont not only designed and built some of the first powered airships, but also became their pilot. On one of his many trips, in 1901, he flew his No. 6 airship around the Eiffel Tower in Paris, which made him world famous.

In his book My Airships, Santos-Dumont cites several of Verne’s works as inspiration for his curiosity about the world and technology, calling the French author a “favorite author” of his youth.

Igor Sikorsky (1889-1972), aviation pioneer

It was Igor Sikorsky’s mother, Marija Stefanovna Sikorskaya, who gave the Russian-American aviation pioneer a love of Verne’s stories. “The Conqueror” in particular, with its vivid descriptions of aircraft, inspired Sikorsky to build the helicopters that made him famous. After several failed attempts in the early 20th century, Sikorsky succeeded in designing and flying the Vought-Sikorsky VS-300, the first operational American helicopter, in 1939.

The early version of the helicopter was modified and evolved into the Sikorsky R-4, the world’s first mass-produced helicopter.

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935), rocket scientist

Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky, one of the pioneers of modern rocket technology and astronautics, cited Verne as the person who cultivated his interest in space travel.

Tsiolkowski also followed Verne’s example as a writer, publishing the novel “To the Moon” in 1893. He also wrote many philosophical and scientific works about space travel and man’s relationship with the universe. Like Verne, Tsiolkowski was convinced that humans would eventually travel into space.

“Man will not remain on Earth forever. The search for light and space will lead him to exceed the limits of the atmosphere, timidly at first, but in the end to conquer the entire solar space,” he writes.

Edited by: Chrysa Vachtsevanu