jules

There's a lovely quote by a French engineer named Jules Dupuit going back to 1849, which explains the conundrum.

For instance, Jules Verne wrote about lots of 'impossible' journeys, which made for good science fiction.

Wells differed from Jules Verne in that he was more inclined to let his fantasy loose.

From what I gather Jules Verne was actually pretty on top of the technology at the time.

I guess we're at the point where Jules Verne was in the late 19th century; we like to dream big.

I've always wanted to try it since reading about it in a Jules Verne novel.

What about firing the rocket from Jules Verne's space gun[0]?

Thanks a lot for the follow-up/expanded article, jules.

When I turned 8, the deal was to read the chapter of a book (real book, like Jules Verne, Arthur Clarke, etc..) and write it's synopsis.

The Mysterious Island - Jules Verne Neuromancer - William Gibson Nineteen Eighty-Four - George Orwell Perdido Street Station - China Mieville Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card Foundation series - Asimov among others...

Interestingly, Jules Verne (the then equivalent for technology- and exploration-worshipping hard sci-fi authors of today) was reaching the height of his output around that same decade (and the next), with some of his most significant works having been already published in the 15 years preceding it.

I think he is imagining detonating all the explosives at once, like a gun, the bullet being the payload you want to put into orbit - like in the Jules Vernes books - instead of progressively consuming a fuel like kerosene (which itself has, from wikipedia, an energy density of about 10 kcal/g), leaving more and more mass behind as you ascend.

Tom Vasel called Sid Sackson "the Jules Verne of modern board gaming", which is so right.

> It was merely encouraged by the government, Not unlike in Pulp Fiction, Jules "encouraging" Brett not to say "what" again.

I believe that the US Navy used to use Jovial: Jules' Own Version of the International Algorithmic Language.

Jules Verne, HG Wells, or Gernsback (creator of Amazing Stories) might take that honor.

Nor is something being science fiction evidence that it's actually scientifically impossible (Jules Verne was actually right in a large proportion of sci-fi predictions he made!).