BOOKS THAT PREDICTED THE FUTURE

MARS HAS TWO MOONS

In his book Gulliver’s Travels (1735), Jonathan Swift writes that Mars

has two moons. 142 years later in 1872 we discovered that Mars

does in fact have two moons.

SOLAR SAILS

In 1865 when Jules Verne wrote From The Earth To The Moon he included

the idea of solar sails. 145 years later, in 2010, the first solar sail

(IKAROS) was successfully used.

ELECTRIC SUBMARINES

5 years after he wrote From The Earth To The Moon Jules Verne wrote

20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (1870). In this book he writes about

the exploits of an electric powered submarine. 90 years later, in the

1960s, electric powered submarines were put into service.

CREDIT CARDS

When Edward Bellamy wrote Looking Backwards in 1888 he predicted

the use of credit cards. 62 years later, in 1950, they were invented.

SKYWRITING

Jules Verne’s book In The Year 2889 (1889) includes the concept of

Planes writing messages in the sky (skywriting). 26 years later, in 1915,

this was done for the first time at an air show in San Francisco.

AUTOMATIC MOTION SENSING DOORS

In 1899 H.G. Wells included automatic motion sensing doors in his novel

When The Sleeper Wakes. About 60 years later, in 1960, these

types of doors were first invented.

TANKS

Several years later, in 1903, H.G. Wells wrote a book called The

Land Ironclads which is basically about tanks. 13 years after that,

during World War I, the first tanks were used.

LIE DETECTOR TEST

In 1910 Edwin Balmer and William MacHarg wrote The Achievements of

Luther Trant in which they mention a lie detector test. 14 years later,

in 1924, the first polygraph test was used.

SOLAR ENERGY

It was 1911 when Hugo Gernsback wrote Ralph 124C 41+ (yes, that is

the actual name of the book) in which he predicted the use of solar

energy. 67 years later, in 1978, the first solar powered calculators

were invented.