Predictions from Jules Verne that actually came true -

Jules Verne was not just a great French novelist—he was a futurist, a dreamer, and a storyteller whose imagination transcended the limits of his era. Writing in the 19th century, Verne crafted thrilling tales of adventure and exploration, but what set him apart was his uncanny ability to foresee the future. His works painted a world driven by technological marvels, many of which did not yet exist but would later become an integral part of human progress.

Unlike many science fiction writers who leaned into pure fantasy, Verne’s visions were often rooted in scientific principles, which made them eerily plausible. Indeed, over a century later, many of his seemingly impossible concepts have materialized. Today, as we look back at his predictions, it’s astonishing to realize just how many of them have come true. Click through this gallery to find out exactly what they are.

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Electric submarines -

Jules Verne’s ‘Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea’ (1870) introduced the world to an entirely electric submarine known as the Nautilus, decades before real submarines existed. It boasted cabins, a dining room, library, and advanced navigation tools that made it a self-sufficient underwater vessel.

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Electric submarines -

What made Verne’s vision remarkable was his understanding of electric propulsion. Modern submarines, such as the ones used by navies today, rely on battery-powered electric engines—a concept first imagined by Verne more than 18 years before the first battery-operated submarine was built.

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Solar sails -

In ‘From the Earth to the Moon’ (1865), Verne imagined a method of space travel using light as propulsion. This foreshadowed modern solar sails, which use the momentum of light (in the form of photons) to push spacecraft through space without the need for fuel. This makes interstellar travel more feasible.

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Solar sails -

The idea of harnessing solar energy for propulsion became a reality with missions such as IKAROS in 2010, an experiment of solar sails put forward by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. This proves that Verne’s idea of using light-based movement in space was more than a wild fantasy—it was a vision of the future.

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Tasers -

In ‘Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea,’ Captain Nemo’s crew wielded a gun that delivered an electric jolt. While fictional at the time of the story’s publication in 1870, this weapon anticipated the Taser, which was developed more than a century later in 1974.

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Tasers -

Unlike traditional firearms, a Taser uses electricity to immobilize a target, much like Verne’s imagined weapon. His depiction of futuristic self-defense was a brilliant reflection of his ability to predict real-world security advancements that have since become essential in law enforcement.

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Helium balloons -

In Verne’s 1863 novel ‘Five Weeks in a Balloon,’ he described a journey across Africa in a lighter-than-air balloon. While hot air balloons existed at the time, the concept of using helium (a gas much safer and lighter) wasn’t implemented until much later.

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Helium balloons -

Helium-filled balloons became a reality in the early 20th century, providing safer and more controlled flight than hydrogen-based ones. Today, helium is used in aeronautics, meteorology, and even space research, cementing Verne’s vision of airborne exploration.

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Electric cars -

When Verne wrote ‘The Mysterious Island’ in 1875, he described a battery-powered vehicle long before electric cars became a serious engineering pursuit. His depiction of an electric-powered carriage foreshadowed today’s EV revolution that now dominates the automobile industry.

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Electric cars -

With companies like Tesla, Rivian, and Lucid pushing electric vehicle innovation, we now live in a world where Verne’s concept of clean, battery-powered transportation is a practical, eco-friendly reality, reducing our reliance on fossil fuels.

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Newscasts -

Verne also predicted a future where spoken news replaced newspapers. Though radio didn’t exist in 1889, which is when Verne published his short story ‘In the Year 2889,’ his foresight into audio-based journalism foreshadowed the rise of radio newscasts, which emerged in the 1920s.

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Newscasts -

Modern news delivery has expanded beyond radio to 24-hour news cycles, podcasts, and even online broadcasting, proving Verne’s concept that news would become immediate and spoken rather than read in the way it once was.

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Skywriting -

Verne’s ‘In the Year 2889’ also imagined a world where messages and advertisements appeared in the sky. This predated skywriting, which first appeared in 1915, where aircraft released special smoke to create aerial messages, revolutionizing marketing and entertainment.

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Skywriting -

Today, skywriting is used for advertising, marriage proposals, and special announcements at major events. This method of writing in the sky mirrors Verne’s vision of large-scale public messaging beyond traditional paper-based ads.

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Videoconferencing -

Verne also described something known as the phonotelephote, a device capable of transmitting images and voices across distances. Though purely fictional at the time, it accurately predicted today’s video calls, Zoom meetings, and FaceTime chats.

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Videoconferencing -

With fiber optics, 5G, and high-speed internet, videoconferencing is now a staple of remote work, education, and personal communication. This has thoroughly proven Verne’s belief in a future where people would visually connect across great distances instantaneously.

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Warfare -

In ‘The Begum’s Fortune’ (1879), Verne predicted the rise of advanced military weaponry. He warned of unchecked militarism that would later characterize the World Wars and showcase the dangerous path of technological warfare.

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Warfare -

Verne’s vision became a reality with chemical warfare, ballistic missiles, and nuclear weapons. The author died almost a decade before World War I broke out, but his publications still warned of how technological advancements in military science can lead to mass destruction.

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The moon landing -

In ‘From the Earth to the Moon,’ Verne described a moon mission launched from Florida, with a crew of three, using a cannon-propelled capsule called Columbiad. The details in the novel are astonishingly similar to Apollo 11’s mission over a century later.

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The moon landing -

Not only did Verne’s launch location match NASA’s, but his projectile’s size and mission structure closely resembled real space travel. It seems that the author had an incredible level of foresight in a time before powered flight even existed.

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Holographs -

When Verne wrote ‘The Carpathian Castle’ in 1892, he described a scenario where villagers were afraid to enter a castle because they could see strange floating images and hear eerie sounds that were later revealed to be holograms and recorded sounds. This predated modern holographic technology by over a century.

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Holographs -

Today, holographs are used in entertainment, concerts, and security features on money and credit cards. Verne’s concept of projecting images into reality was not just a dream, but an achievable future.

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The internet -

In ‘Paris in the Twentieth Century’ (1863), Jules Verne imagined a worldwide telegraph system, eerily similar to today’s internet, where people could communicate and access vast information networks instantly.

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The internet -

The official birthday of the internet is January 1, 1983, which is 120 years after Verne published his novel. With today’s high-speed global connectivity, the internet is an integral part of daily life, and Verne’s vision of worldwide instant communication was an accurate prediction of the digital revolution.

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Journey to the North Pole -

In Verne’s 1864 novel ‘The Adventures of Captain Hatteras,’ he described an expedition to the North Pole and imagined explorers battling extreme cold and treacherous ice in search of uncharted territories. At the time, no one had ever set foot on Earth’s northernmost point.

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Journey to the North Pole -

It wasn’t until 1909 that US Navy engineer Robert Peary and his team became the first to reach the North Pole, making Verne’s prediction of Arctic exploration incredibly accurate. Today, the Arctic remains a site of scientific discovery, with researchers studying climate change and melting ice caps.

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A warm ocean beneath the Arctic ice -

In ‘The Adventures of Captain Hatteras,’ Verne also proposed that beneath the frozen Arctic lay a warm ocean fed by geothermal energy. At the time, this idea seemed absurd, as people believed the Arctic was solid ice all the way down.

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A warm ocean beneath the Arctic ice -

Today, oceanographers have confirmed that warm Atlantic currents flow under the Arctic ice and affect global climate patterns. Research using underwater drones and thermal imaging has proven that Verne’s seemingly wild idea wasn’t fiction.

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Virtual reality -

In ‘The Master of the World,’ published in 1904, Verne wrote about a flight simulation machine that could recreate the sensation of flying. Though his version was mechanical rather than digital, it closely resembled modern flight simulators and virtual reality technology that is used today.

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Virtual reality -

Today’s VR headsets, such as the Oculus Quest and PlayStation VR, create fully immersive 3D experiences for gaming, training, and even therapy. Pilots also use flight simulators to practice flying. It seems that Verne’s concept of experiencing alternative realities through technology was well ahead of his time.

Sources: (Technabob) (Literary Hub) (Interesting Engineering) (Britannica)

See also: Inventors who died because of their inventions

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