Jules Verne was born in 1828 in Nantes, a port city whose ships and tides fed his imagination. Expected to follow his father into law, he moved to Paris and worked as a stockbroker while writing plays and stories. Association with publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel gave him a platform for the 'Extraordinary Voyages'—a series blending meticulous research with bold extrapolation.

Verne mapped fictional expeditions onto real geography and emerging technology. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870) imagined submarine travel before practical vessels existed; From the Earth to the Moon (1865) calculated a lunar voyage by cannon; Around the World in Eighty Days (1873) turned the new global rail and steam network into a race against the clock. His narratives popularized science for mass audiences and influenced engineers who later realized similar machines.

Verne's politics shifted toward nationalism after the Franco-Prussian War, and late works grew darker, yet his reputation as a prophet of technology endured. Translated worldwide, he became one of the most widely read French authors and a founding voice of modern science fiction.

1. 1828

   Birth in Nantes

   Verne grew up watching ships on the Loire and began writing adventure tales while studying law in Paris.

2. 1863

   Five Weeks in a Balloon

   His first major success with Hetzel launched the Extraordinary Voyages and established his formula of researched adventure.

3. 1870

   Twenty Thousand Leagues

   Published during the Franco-Prussian War, the novel became one of his most enduring works and introduced Captain Nemo.

4. 1873

   Eighty Days

   The globe-circling race cemented Verne's fame and was adapted countless times for stage and screen.

5. 1905

   Death in Amiens

   Verne died from complications of diabetes; he was mourned as France's master of imaginative travel literature.