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Jules was the oldest of five children. His family wasn�t wealthy, though they were well off. The summers of his youth were spent at a summer home, often renting a boat with his brother. Watching the ships navigating the waters fueled Jules� imagination, something that would serve him well throughout his life. Jules was sent to boarding school at the age of nine with his brother and showed a great passion and aptitude for writing, often at the expense of all his other subjects of study. Eventually Jules Verne went to Paris to study for the bar, in order to follow his father into law. He began some of his earliest writing with opera and plays, but his earliest travel stories showed his true gift for story telling. His split study of writing and law eventually shifted to studying writing full time. Once his father learned of this, he cut off funding and Jules supported himself as a stockbroker, a job he hated but was good at. During this time he met famous French authors Alexandre Dumas and Victor Hugo, both of whom gave Verne advice about writing during his early stages. Jules met his wife, Honorine de Viane Morel, a widow with two daughters, and they were married January 10, 1857. She continued to encourage Verne in his writing, and he continued to write and look for a publisher. His first son, Michel Jules Verne, was born on August 3, 1861. Michel and his father would often not get along, as Michel would marry an actress, against his father�s wishes, have two children with an underage mistress, and buried himself in various debts. Eventually their relationship did improve somewhat later in life. Verne�s writings were constantly rejected until he met Pierre-Jules Hetzel, who was one of the most important French publishers of the 19th century, and also published Victor Hugo. They were an excellent writer-publisher team. Hetzel helped Jules vastly improve his writing, and then Hetzel would publish Verne�s longer works, which most other publishers had rejected repeatedly. Hetzel�s advice helped Verne publish his first novel, Five Weeks in a Balloon, a science fiction story about balloon exploration Africa. Hetzel�s advice covered many broad topics, from adding moments of comedy into his novels, changing tragic endings to happy ones, and toning down an overly forward series of political messages. Jules Verne wrote many of his most successful novels in a relatively short number of years. In an eight year time period he wrote Journey to the Center of the Earth, From the Earth to the Moon (which may have been the first science fiction movie ever�made before 1910 by Georges Melies), Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and Around the World in Eighty Days, among many others. All this was released from 1864-1872. These novels, with others, were known collectively as a series named �Extraordinary Voyages,� and finally made Jules Verne enough money to live off of his writing. Ironically, although remembered for these works, he made far more money off of his plays. Remembering his roots and what first piqued his imagination as a boy, Verne eventually bought a small ship which he name the Saint-Michel, and as his wealth increased he replaced with the Saint-Michel II, and the Saint-Michel III. While aboard the Saint-Michel III he sailed around Europe, and in 1870 was knighted as a member of the Legion of Honor. Jules Verne found both wealth and fame in his life time, something that was far from common among writers of his time. On March 9th, 1886, Verne was shot by his twenty-five year old nephew, Gaston. No one is sure why, but Gaston fired twice. One shot missed, but the other hit Verne in the leg, sticking him with a permanent limp. Gaston, spent the remainder of his life locked in an asylum for the insane. Tragedy would strike Verne further, when in 1887 his editor and friend, Hetzel, as well as his mother, died. Verne�s writing became much darker at that point, part of which might be attributed to his depression, but much of what may also be due to Hetzel�s son not being as diligent and editor as his father. With Verne a famous and best selling writer, there seemed to be less reason for a vigorous edit, as well. Aside from writing, Verne became active in politics and in 1888 was elected town councilor of Amiens. He served 15 years and was well respected by the people as a politician who was constantly championing for improvements. In 1905 Verne became ill, as died. Michel made sure his father�s last known works were published posthumously. There is no denying the impact Jules Verne has had in the world of writing. Verne is consistently one of the most translated authors in the world, and his work is famous for its stunningly accurate predictions. While many English translations struggled with the math in some of Verne�s works because of the metric system conversion, the original calculations were amazing. NASA found that Verne�s predictions about the amount of force it would take to propel a rocket to the moon was stunningly accurate, even though it was made nearly a century before the moon mission! Even stranger, in his novel three astronauts are launched from Florida and recovered via crash landing. That tone is eerily prophetic of the actual Apollo Program. His novel Paris in the 20th Century, was written in 1863, yet describes a world filed with skyscrapers, high speed trains, gas powered cars, the Internet, TV, and calculators�sometimes over a hundred years before these came to be. Verne is considered, along with H.G. Wells and Hugo Gernsback, as the �Father of Science Fiction,� and he was certainly more prolific and scientifically inclined than his counterparts, making his writing even more exceptional. Over his career he wrote over 60 novels, as well as many short stories, essays, and plays. Verne was truly a genius far ahead of his time.
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