Jules Verne

Son, Michel Jean Pierre (4 August 1861-1925). A classic enfant terrible, he married an actress over Verne's objections, and had two children by his underage mistress. It seemed to take his father's death for Michel to finally grow up. He oversaw publication of Verne's last novels, "Invasion of the Sea" and "The Lighthouse at the End of the World" (both 1905).

In 1863, he wrote "Paris in the 20th Century" about a young man who lives in a world of skyscrapers, high-speed trains, gas-powered automobiles, calculators, and a worldwide communications network, yet cannot find happiness, and comes to a tragic end. His publisher thought the novel's pessimism would damage Verne's career, and declined to publish it. Verne put the manuscript in a safe, where it was discovered by his great-grandson in 1989.

In his 1865 novel "From the Earth to the Moon," he predicted that the first nation to land on the moon would be the United States of America. 104 years later, this happened.

On 9 March 1886, as Verne was coming home, his nephew, Gaston, charged at him with a gun. As the two wrestled for it, it went off. The second bullet entered Verne's left shin. He never fully recovered. Gaston spent the rest of his life in an asylum.

Criticized H.G. Wells for inventing cavourite, a substance impervious to gravity, for his 1901 novel "The First Men in the Moon". Verne thought Wells violated a cardinal rule that the logic of the story must not contradict contemporary scientific knowledge: "I sent my characters to the moon with gunpowder, a thing one may see every day. Where does Mr. Wells find his cavourite? Let him show it to me!".

Verne and his work play a prominent and pivotal role in Back to the Future Part III (1990). Dr. Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd) discusses Verne's novel with Clara Clayton (Mary Steenburgen). Later, Doc Brown and Ms. Clayton return to 1985 with their young sons, Jules and Verne, introducing the boys to Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) and Jennifer Parker (Elisabeth Shue).

Inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1999.

His play, "20,000 Leagues under the Sea (2018)" at the Lookingglass Theatre Company in Chicago, Illinois was nominated for a 2018 Joseph Jefferson Equity Award for New Adaptation.