Jules Gabriel Verne (February 8, 1828 - March 24, 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870), A Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), and Around the World in Eighty Days (1873). Verne wrote about space, air, and underwater travel before air travel and practical submarines were invented, and before practical means of space travel had been devised. He is the 2nd most translated author in the world (after Agatha Christie) and is often called the "Father of Science Fiction", a title shared with Hugo Gernsback and H. G. Wells. (cropped and cleaned)