Whose Novels Pioneered Science Fiction?

French author Jules Verne (1828-1905) and English author H.G. Wells (1866-1946) together established the foundations of modern science fiction. Verne, author of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas (1870), Around the World in Eighty Days (1872), and From the Earth to the Moon (1865), meticulously researched the science and technology of his era, making his tales of submarines, space travel, and global exploration feel plausible. Wells, author of The Time Machine (1895), The War of the Worlds (1898), and The Invisible Man (1897), used speculative science as a lens to explore social and philosophical themes. Mary Shelley Frankenstein (1818) is often cited as the first true science fiction novel, predating both.