Jules Gabriel Verne was born in Nantes, France on February 8, 1828. Over the following 77 years, he became both a prodigious writer and a creator of characters that came to be known throughout the world. His work continues to live on well beyond his death and he is known by many as the father of modern science fiction. His stories revolved around the use of technologies of the day, such as in his novels Five Days in a Balloon and Around the World in Eighty Days. However, what made Verne really stand out were the flights of fancy he took with regard to the potential advances in technology. His fantastic creations were based, in many respects, on a keen understanding of science and the way it was moving forwards.