Jules Verne (1828-1905), French writer and pioneer of science fiction, whose best known works today are Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870) and Around the World in Eighty Days (1873).
A life of adventure
Jules Gabriel Verne was born on February 8, 1828, in Nantes, France. His parents were of a seafaring tradition, a factor which influenced his writings. As a boy, Jules Verne ran off to be a cabin boy on a merchant ship, but he was caught and returned to his parents. In 1847 Jules was sent to study law in Paris. While there, however, his passion for the theatre grew. Later in 1850, Jules Verne's first play was published. His father was outraged when he heard that Jules was not going to continue law, so he discontinued the money he was giving him to pay for his expenses in Paris. This forced Verne to make money by selling his stories.
Success
After spending many hours in Paris libraries studying geology, engineering, and astronomy, Jules Verne published his first novel Five Weeks in a Balloon (1863). Soon he started writing novels such as Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), From the Earth to the Moon (1866), and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1873).
Because of the popularity of these and other novels, Jules Verne became a very rich man. In 1876, he bought a large yacht and sailed around Europe. His last novel The Invasion of the Sea appeared in 1905.
Jules Verne died in the city of Amines on March 24, 1905.