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Was Jules Verne a prophet?


Big Bad Voodoo

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Jules Verne (1828 –1905) is french novelist who wrote 20 000 leauges under the sea, Journey to the center of Earth, Around the World in 80 days among others. Verne is the 2nd most translated author in the world after Agatha Christie. But thats not reason why I wrote. I wrote because could it be that Jules Verne was prophet? I once argued how there are people who can tamed wild animals just like Daniel did in Bible and that Napoleon have had remote viewing ability. But this is realy something.

Listen this

Electric Submarines

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In perhaps his most famous novel, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Verne's Captain Nemo travels the world's oceans in a giant electric submarine, the Nautilus—the inspiration for the portholed Jules Verne Google doodle.

Aside from its organ, formal dining room, and other luxuries, the Nautilus isn't all that different from some modern subs, such as the circa-1964, three-passenger Alvin (pictured), which is powered by lead-acid batteries.

Like Alvin, the Nautilus was fully powered by electricity, "which at that time had a kind of magical aura," said Rosalind Williams, a historian of technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

In the book Captain Nemo describes electricity as "a powerful agent, obedient, rapid, easy, which conforms to every use, and reigns supreme on board my vessel."

Newscasts

Photograph from Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

In an 1889 article, "In the Year 2889," Jules Verne described an alternative to newspapers: "Instead of being printed, the Earth Chronicle is every morning spoken to subscribers, who, from interesting conversations with reporters, statesmen and scientists, learn the news of the day."

The first newscast didn't happen until 1920, according to the Associated Press—nearly 30 years after Verne imagined it. The first network-television newscast would have to wait another 28 years, according to CBS News. By 1974 millions were able to watch U.S. President Richard Nixon resign on TV (pictured).

(See a picture of the Jules Verne spacecraft brilliantly disintegrating as it enters Earth's atmosphere.)

Published February 8, 201

Lunar Modules

Photograph courtesy NASA

Jules Verne also wrote about what are today called lunar modules, such as the cone-shaped crew capsule atop this NASA rocket. In From the Earth to the Moon, he described "projectiles" that could be used to carry passengers to the Moon.

Verne imagined "a big gun going off, and you get enough force to break through gravity," MIT's Williams said.

Verne generally took pains to explain how his imagined inventions worked. "He's not like H.G. Wells, who makes up a substance that takes you to the moon," Williams said. Verne's "ideas about how you do things were always grounded in material realities."

Skywriting

Photograph by Neville Elder, Corbis

Jules Verne was a keen observer of the world around him, and one of the fields he paid attention to was advertising. In "In the Year 2889," Verne described "atmospheric advertisements"—similar to skywriting (pictured).

"Everyone has noticed those enormous advertisements reflected from the clouds," Verne wrote, "so large they may be seen by the populations of whole cities or even entire countries."

Despite his fascination with gadgets and machines, Verne had no engineering training, MIT's Williams said.

He had a background in law "and worked in the theater," she said. "And he had friends who were, for example, interested in heavier-than-air flight. So he hung out with people who were interested in science and inventions and exploration."

Verne's imagination was also heavily influenced by scientific and technical journals, MIT's William said.

"He read voraciously," she said. "He went to the men's club where all these journals were and he took notes. So he was aware of a submarine that was being tried out in the North Sea, for example."

Taser

Photograph by Jonathan Hayward, Canadian Press/AP

Jules Verne's favorite topic of speculation was the vehicle, but he also wrote about weapons that didn't yet exist. For example, in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, he described a gun that delivers a strong electric jolt, much like a Taser "electronic control device" (pictured).

Of his device, Verne wrote: "The balls sent by this gun are not ordinary balls, but little cases of glass. These glass cases are covered with a case of steel, and weighted with a pellet of lead; they are real Leyden bottles"—18th-century devices used to store static electricity—"into which the electricity is forced to a very high tension. With the slightest shock they are discharged, and the animal, however strong it may be, falls dead."

Verne didn't portray all his inventions as beneficial. "It is a mistake to think he is presenting all these gee-whiz gadgets as something desirable," MIT's Williams said.

"Verne is all too keenly aware of the military and policing potential of new inventions, and highly distrustful of contemporary societies to use them wisely and justly."

Splashdown Spaceship

Photograph by Bates Littlehales, National Geographic

In From the Earth to the Moon, Verne imagined a spacecraft landing in the ocean and floating—just like this Mercury capsule.

There were other 19th-century French authors who weaved current technologies into their works, but Verne is remembered today because he also happened to be a great storyteller, MIT's Williams said.

"He worked 20 years in a theater," she said. "His characters are simple and they do neat things ... [Verne's] genius is combining deep story lines with up-to-date things and this great excitement about science and invention."

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/02/pictures/110208-jules-verne-google-doodle-183rd-birthday-anniversary/

Also:

Helicopters

In his novel, "Clipper of the Clouds" (1886) he writes about a flying ship (Albatross) that maintains its altitude by helicopter rotors.

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the quotes you list in there do an excellent job of showing where he got his ideas from though! he was a brilliant, imaginative man, who was extremely well read. nothing mystical required when the building blocks of a lot of modern innovations were being explored at the time, and a curious well infomred person could follow along and make connections. it's also worth noting that he wasn't the only writer exploring these ideas. the late 19th century/ early twentieth was when the genre we call science fiction started really coming into being, after all!

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the quotes you list in there do an excellent job of showing where he got his ideas from though! he was a brilliant, imaginative man, who was extremely well read. nothing mystical required when the building blocks of a lot of modern innovations were being explored at the time, and a curious well infomred person could follow along and make connections. it's also worth noting that he wasn't the only writer exploring these ideas. the late 19th century/ early twentieth was when the genre we call science fiction started really coming into being, after all!

I agree. I was steampunk fan. And he started SF and Steampunk.

But I once heard how he guessed 20 facts about man trip to moon.

20!

Thats huge!

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Excellent thread!! I am a big fan of Verne and read many of his books.

He was definitely a man before his time and he also predicted other things correctly: distributed electricity, petrol powered 'cars', high speed trains...the internet which he called a worldwide telegraphic communications network....so similar to www....the Louvre Pyramid, which he called a very modern geometric monument if front of the Louvre.

Was he a very clever man who could 'guess' what the future was going to be like?.........or was he, like some believe, a time traveler?

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Excellent thread!! I am a big fan of Verne and read many of his books.

He was definitely a man before his time and he also predicted other things correctly: distributed electricity, petrol powered 'cars', high speed trains...the internet which he called a worldwide telegraphic communications network....so similar to www....the Louvre Pyramid, which he called a very modern geometric monument if front of the Louvre.

Was he a very clever man who could 'guess' what the future was going to be like?.........or was he, like some believe, a time traveler?

I once heard how he wrote on book which happens in my country Croatia. But that book was sadly not translated on Croatian. Something about Mathias as I remember. When he escape prison...

Can you tell more about those prophecy you mentioned...maybe a quote or atleast name of book. His opus is so huge. I jealous at you. I read only 2.

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A book about Mathias?...I've got 50 of his books on my Kindle, many I still haven't read and I can't recall ever hearing about Mathias....but I will try to find out.

All that I wrote is in Paris in the 20th century, one of my favourites.

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A book about Mathias?...I've got 50 of his books on my Kindle, many I still haven't read and I can't recall ever hearing about Mathias....but I will try to find out.

All that I wrote is in Paris in the 20th century, one of my favourites.

Aaaa Paris. Its famous among Steampunkers. Im jealous. :devil:

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Aaaa Paris. Its famous among Steampunkers. Im jealous. :devil:

Pardon my ignorance but what are Steampunkers???

lol

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I always love steampunk since I played Arcanum of steamworks. I didnt play much games but this one was special. It settled in steampunk world which I always liked. I also like Jules Verne and I thought on steampunk as realy as subdivision of science fiction. I always like late 18, 19 and early 20 century history. All explorers, gangmembers, soldiers, clerics, doctors with their elixirs,pills and wonder drugs, warlocks, spies, inspectors, mad scientists with their breaktroughs, late ninjers, martial arts in Europe and USA, mystics, charismatics, egyptologists, philosophers, alchemists, circus weightlifters and clowns, magician, acrobats, animalmasters, giants, dwarves, fortune tellers, generals with their commanding presence and tactical education and leadership, secret societies, engineer with their repair skills and weapon upgrades, Prophets with tarot cards and crystalballs, occultists, herbalogists, technologists, chemists with breaktrough in anaesthesy. All kind of people. Zepelins, flintlocks, revolvers, steam motor,hushed gun, submarines, rafle guns, robots, canon, sniper guns. Gunslingers who were sharpshooters even stories that were able to hit with rikoshe hit. Electric energy and Tesla. Capacitor, electric bulb, charged weapons. It was a time of dynamites, explosives, land mines. Time of clockworks. Every mechanic had eye glasses. It realy have all as in fantasy books or games. Okay almost all except mechanized arachnid, indian mechanized war elephant and similar. But it was time of many others wonders. I thought does my minor knowledge of history shaped my exotic view on steampunk. It seems that steampunk was rather history then fantasy or alternative history and I will proove my point. I will try to set you up in scence which will change your view on steampunk books.

I will strt with my homeland during Austro Hungary. Torpedo was Austro Hungarian invention. Ivan Lupis Naval officer in the Austro-Hungarian Navy was born in Rijeka, todays Croatia. He was commander of the Austrian frigate "Venus." Invented and in 1860 year built torpedo, which was later perfected British engineer Robert Whitehead, who was a director of the company "Stabilimento tecnico Fiumano". As a result 1873 was founded torpedo factory "Whitehead & Co.." Rijeka. One of trademarks of steampunk is Zepelin. Sadly not big number of people knows that Zepelin was invented by David Schwarz from Zagreb in 1880. Zepelin buy his project from Schwarz widow after David died. In 1894 he tried to sell project in Russia but he was accused for plot so he run from Russia. Ofcourse there wasnt a plot it was Russian idea to steal projects. Rudolf Steiner was born in Gornji Kraljevac today Croatia. He was Austrian philosopher who popularized Biodynamic farming and he was founder of anthroposophy and anthroposophical medicine. Which I like very much.

Ofcourse Nikola Tesla was born in Austria Hungary todays Croatia. He was a physicists who became engienieer. Marconi get Nobel prize but Tesla invented radio.He invented wireless transport of energy. He tried to invent free enregy machine as Neutrino radiation of space as fuel. Legacy of Tesla is mystery. 160 000 original documents are in museum in Belgrade, Serbia and only 30 000 were explored. Notes,pictures,archive isnt done well. Who knows what else we will discover in his works. Also who doesnt knows about X-ray experiments ,Tesla tower and death ray. His patented AC induction motor and transformer. Tesla patented now known as Tesla coil. Tesla proved that the earth was a conductor. Tesla observed unusual signals from his receiver (which he interpreted as 1—2—3—4), which he later believed were extraterrestrial radio wave communications. Tesla invented a steam-powered mechanical oscillator—Tesla's oscillator. This is what he said about Death ray „…send concentrated beams of particles through the free air, of such tremendous energy that they will bring down a fleet of 10,000 enemy airplanes at a distance of 200 miles from a defending nation's border and will cause armies to drop dead in their tracks.“… "But it is not an experiment... I have built, demonstrated and used it. Only a little time will pass before I can give it to the world."… "superweapon that would put an end to all war". Tesla was famous for his AC electricity patents. Tesla didnt agreed with Einstein theory of space. In 1937 he wrote that he completed a "dynamic theory of gravity" that "[would] put an end to idle speculations and false conceptions, as that of curved space".He stated that the theory was "worked out in all details“. This theory was never found in his writings. As I said 130 000 of his documents were not explored. Who knows what else we will find. Tesla used alternating electricity at 50 Hz. Meaning that 50 times change direction in 1 second. Since Siemens followers were in Europe and he had nervous break down and visions in Budapest he went in America to compete with Edison. He was most famous for elctromotor. Hans Christian Ørsted noticed that electric energy creates magentic field so by ading magnet close it you can from electric energy get physic movement. Also Michael Faraday discovered that from physic movement we can get electricity. So that notation Tesla used for his motor. Galileo Ferraris 1st discovered induction motor but Tesla didnt know about his invention and Tesla patented first. Its interesting when we know that Marconi took his Nobel price for radio. Its easy to see that especialy when we know that Marconi used Tesla coil for radio. Scientician community later felt sorry for Tesla so they named messurment unit Tesla and gave him mountain on moon. Tesla was genius. He talked about global communication network.He discover Xrays before Wilhelm Röntgen. He did experiment before Wilhelm. And after he patent it Tesla announce (after 2 months) all his documents about x rays with note that someone explain how he written so many things about x rays in only two months. Plus Tesla talked about x ray before Wilhelm.Also Tesla discover electron before J. J. Thomson. Thompson even criticized Tesla for claiming such thing in one magazine. Tesla respond and Thompson create experiment and took Nobel prize from Tesla.One interesting info I like about Tesla is his idea to use electricity in medicine. His friend Mark Twain had digistive problems. Tesla called Mark and cure him with very high frequency electricity. Mark said later that he was cured and doctor respond its placebo effect. Second interesting thing was his flashes and Tesla claim that when someone say word house he sees house, when someone say word tree he saw tree. Tesla also said that his father games at young ages helped him a lot to become what he become. Tesla as kid practice to calculate in head, he guessed what other people think, he must answer on dads riddles. Although Tesla was connected to his mom a lot and even claim that he felt when she died.

Now I will skip to ancient times just to proove that Steam engine and mechanism started very early. We all known for mechanical devices such as Antikythera mechanism and Hero steam engine. Its hard to me to imagine that when someone have brain to invent steam engine that he didnt find practical use of it. I called Hero engine „Hero“ but actually its not Herons at all. Vitruvius before him described steam engine. I also think that we need to mention Philo of Byzantium (280 BC – ca. 220 BC) or Philo Mechanicus and his works on pneumatic engines, mechanics, devices operated by air or water pressure and mechanical toys. Since he was from Alexandria I suspect he was inventor of Heron steam engine. Hero inventions are wind-powered machinery, automatons and vending machine. About Antikythera mechanism people almost said everything. Some say it was astronomical device some navigating instrument some say it was small planetraium, even heliocentric. But this astronimical computer wasnt unique in history. In Muesum of History of science at Oxford is 13th century Islam computer

Member TheSearcher once said:

„This design can be traced back, with slightly different periods but a similar arrangement of gears, to a manuscript written by the astronomer al-Biruni about 1000 A.D. Such instruments am much simpler than the Antikythera mechanism, but they show so many points of agreement in technical detail that it seems clear they came from a common tradition. The same 60-degree gear teeth are used; wheels are mounted on square-shanked axles; the geometrical layout of the gear assembly appears comparable. It was just at this time that Islam was drawing on Greek knowledge and rediscovering ancient Greek texts. It seems likely that the Antikythera tradition was part of a large corpus of knowledge that has since been lost to us but was known to the Arabs. It was developed and transmitted by them to medieval Europe, where it became the foundation for the whole range of subsequent invention in the field of clockwork. The mechanism was strongly suggestive of an ancient Greek tradition of complex mechanical technology which, transmitted via the Arab world, formed the basis of European clockmaking techniques. This fits with another, smaller device that was acquired in 1983 by the Science Museum, which models the motions of the sun and moon. Dating from the sixth century AD, it provides a previously missing link between the Antikythera mechanism and later Islamic calendar computers, such as the 13th century example at the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford. That device, in turn, uses techniques described in a manuscript written by al-Biruni, an Arab astronomer, around 1000AD….The next, even more complex devices like it, were constructed later, but are quite amazing too. For example the Castle Clock, in 1206 or the astrolabe incorporating a mechanical calendar computer and gear-wheels, which was invented by Abi Bakr of Isfahan in 1235.“

In 1574 the Ottoman Sultan Murad III called Taqi al-Din to build an observatory in Istanbul and he constructed instruments like huge armillary and mechanical clocks that he used in his observations of the comet of 1577.

:innocent:

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Thanks!! It seems I'm a Steampunker too!

lol

Ofcourse you are if you like Verne. I didnt wont to link you other site because you are Verne fan so I tried to explain it by myself.

Aggie and tell me one thing you like from steampunk please. Whatever first comes to your mind?

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Now back on topic. Could it be that he was THAT informed? Or he have had ability to see future.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Perhaps some inventers read these as well? He didn't see the future as much as they created the modern by reading the authors of the past?

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I think Jules Verne was an incredibly gifted writer with an unbounded imagination. It was up to others, with a more practical bent, to take his ideas and run with it. I'm also reminded of Gene Roddenberry, who, as far as I'm concerned, accurately predicted the cell flip phone (communicator, anyone?).

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Jules Verne was a very imaginative writer who influenced science and science fiction a lot. I have a book called "the secret Message of Jules Verne", by Michel Lamy, who claims that his books are full of secret Masonic and occult messages as well. Dunno what to make of that, but it was a fun read....

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