Jules Verne (1828-1905) was a French author best known for his tales of adventure, includingnbsp;Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea,nbsp;Journey to the Center of the Earth, andnbsp;Around the World in Eighty Days. A true visionary, Verne foresaw the skyscraper, the submarine, and the airplane, among many other inventions, and is now regarded as one of the fathers of science fiction.nbsp;