No. It is not his birthday. In fact, it is a whole two months after his birthday. But I was doing my spring cleaning and happened to come across a copy of Verne’s “A journey to the centre of the earth”. My thoughts began to wander. It has been years since I read a book by Jules Verne. But the fascination remains as fresh as the day light at dawn.
Jules Verne was a French man born in the early 19th century. To be more exact, he was born in 1828, in Nantes. When in 1851, he published his first novel, “Cinq semaines en ballon (five weeks in a balloon)”, it was still the early days of balloon making. But the book was in no way a mere fantasy of the author. Instead, it involved a serious research into geology, engineering and astronomy.
The world’s first balloon, carrying people, was launched in 1783, as an experiment by Messrs. Charles and Robert. Benjamin Franklin, the American Scientist who is today, well known for his kite experiment, recorded the event in his letter to Sir Joseph Banks. In his letter, he states that the balloon rose to about 800 feet from the ground, and carried with it Mr. Charles, an experimental philosopher, and monsieur Robert, one of the constructors of the balloon. These were the early days of synthetic balloons, until which time balloons were the product of animal bladders. This incident was probably what triggered Verne to write his first novel, in which one Dr. Ferguson initiates a voyage to Africa in a balloon.
“Five weeks in a balloon” was the beginning of Verne’s journey into the future. Although the idea of traveling in balloons themselves had already been done, the book, predicts some of the greatest events to come. In the first chapter of the book, Elspeth, Dr. Ferugson’s confidential maid remarks at the idea of his balloon voyage thus.
“Not a bit of it!” said she. “Don’t I know my man? Isn’t it just like him? Travel through the air! There, now, he’s jealous of the eagles, next! No! I warrant you, he’ll not do it! I’ll find a way to stop him! He! why if they’d let him alone, he’d start some day for the moon!”
Fourteen years hence, Verne wrote the book, “From the Earth to the Moon”. In the book, a Baltimore gun company embarks on a mission to make the ultimate gun that can launch a manned rocket to the moon. This was in 1865, when even aeroplanes did not exist.
After 99 years the Apollo 11 landed on the moon with Edwin Aldwin and Neil Armstrong of America. With thoughts that were a whole century ahead of his world, what is fascinating about the book is the intense amount of detail that Verne gives the reader, when none of the details existed. Beginning from the material chosen to build the projectile, all the way to its dimensions, the force required for the projection, and the amount of gun powder necessary for impulsion, the novel gives a detailed description.
Come to think of it, ‘A journey to the centre of the earth’ is probably one of his few fantasies that is yet to be realized. Is it even necessary to visit the centre of the earth? But as history teaches us, it is only a matter of time before the fantastic becomes reality for whatever reason.