In a world of modern marvels, it may seem impossible that some could imagine details centuries earlier.
And yet, there are many instances of individuals predicting the future, some so specific that it feels rather eerie.
The Moon Landing
In 1865, over a century before man would manage to land on the moon, author Jules Verne predicted what would happen in great detail.
In his fictional novel From the Earth to the Moon, Verne outlined that a space cannon titled The Columbiad would leave Earth in December from Florida in the United States and fly three astronauts to the moon. The astronauts would become weightless in space.
104 years later, Apollo 11, with its command module named Columbia, took off in December from Florida, United States, with three astronauts who found themselves weightless in space.
The Great Fire of London
The Great Fire of London swept through the medieval city in 1666, rendering hundreds of thousands of people homeless and destroying much of the city’s infrastructure.
Over a century earlier, French poet Nostradamus wrote, “the just man’s blood shall guist on London six, by lightning burnt of twenty trees the six.”
His words, vague as his style was, have been taken to refer to the great London fire of 1666. While lightning wasn’t at fault, the coincidence in date and location is too odd to pass up.
Atoms
Albert Einstein mathematically proved atoms, which were in action far before humans knew about them, in 1905. But two thousand years earlier, a Greek philosopher named Leucippus had much the same theory.
Leucippus believed there were two different elements, which he would refer to as ‘the full’ and ‘solid,’ or ‘the empty’ and ‘void.’ His contributions to atomist theory have not lasted the test of time, as he did much of his work around 67AD.
Aristotle, however, was known to credit Lecippus with the entire foundation of atom theory.
The Greenhouse Effect
While many have studied greenhouse gases since the 1800s, physician Syukruo Manabe proved the greenhouse effect, colloquially known as global warming, in the 1960s.
Years earlier, in 1917, inventor Alexander Graham Bell was recorded saying, “We would have some kind of greenhouse effect. The net result is that the greenhouse becomes a hot house.”
The issue of greenhouse gases was in discussion at the time, though many individuals, even scientists, did not believe the result would be a warmer earth.
Mark Twain’s Death
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, who operated under the pen name Mark Twain, was a much-loved American writer and humorist. In 1909, at age 73, he predicted his death with eerie accuracy.
“I came in with Halley’s Comet in 1835,” he said, referring to his birth around the same time. “It is coming again next year, and I expect to go with it.”
Halley’s Comet reached its perihelion on April 20, 1910. One day later, Samuel Clemens died of a heart attack.
The Atomic Bomb
The first atomic bombs were built in the United States during World War 2, two being used successfully in warfare during 1945. The concept of an atomic bomb had been discussed for some time, but it was 31 years earlier when one man had predicted the exact weapon.
In 1917, in his novel The World Set Free, author H.G. Wells introduced the atomic bomb. Wells was specific enough to detail uranium and thorium as its power source, the same that the United States would use decades later. Still, he also questioned the moral quandaries a weapon of such power would introduce.
Digital Photographs
The history of photography is extensive, but digital photography as we know it today first hit markets as early as 1975. 75 years earlier, in 1900, John Elfreth Watkins described exactly what we would have available today.
An engineer, Watkins wrote an article in 1900 with his predictions for the future. “Photographs will be telegraphed from any distance. If there be a battle in China a hundred years hence, snapshots of its most striking events will be published in the newspapers an hour later…photographs will reproduce all of nature’s colors.”
The Titanic Tragedy
Setting sail on April 10, 1912, and sinking just four days later, the Titanic goes down as one of the world’s most unexpected tragedies. And yet, 14 years earlier, American novelist Morgan Robertson wrote an unnervingly similar calamity in his book Futility.
Robertson’s book detailed a ship of nearly identical size named the Titan. His fictional ship was written as ‘unsinkable’ and was also to sail across the northern Atlantic Ocean. Like the Titanic, the Titan did not have enough lifeboats and crashed into an iceberg, capsizing on an April night.
The Periodic Table
As early as the 1700s, chemists and scientists worked to find ways to group elements teachably; however, the modern periodic table did not exist until the early 1900s.
Dimitri Mendeleev was a Russian chemist who, in 1863, constructed the framework for the modern periodic table. He was so sure of his findings that he created spaces for the elements that had not yet been discovered. He even made names for the elements he did not yet know about, strikingly similar to those we have today.
World War 2
At the end of World War 1, many hoped that a period of peace would follow. But the French commander Ferdinand Foch was unconvinced. He said, “This is not peace. It is an armistice for twenty years.”
Twenty years and two months later, World War 2 began.
Organ Transplants
The first successful organ transplant occurred in 1954, and the process is now a lifesaving treatment option.
Hundreds of years earlier, chemist Robert Boyle left a handwritten ‘wish list’ when he passed away. He wrote, “the cure of diseases at a distance, or at least by transplantation.”
While the idea may not seem revolutionary now, it was otherworldly at the time.
Social Media
Eons before social media would be accessible to the world, a Russian prince named Vladimir Odoevsky predicted an age of technological connection.
In 1835, Odoevsky wrote a novel called Year 4338, in which he details houses being connected using “magnetic telegraphs that allow people who live far from each other to communicate.”
He also wrote about a ‘daily journal,’ implying that individuals would share daily occurrences with their friends through this technological advancement.
The Smart Phone
Smartphones first hit stores in the late 1990s, but 70 years earlier, Nikola Tesla had the idea.
In a 1926 interview with Collier’s Magazine, Tesla explained that we would have a communication device so simple that we would all carry it in our “vest pocket.”
Caitriona Maria is an education writer and owner of The Facts Institute. A teacher for seven years, she has been committed to providing students with the best learning opportunities possible, both domestically and abroad. Dedicated to unlocking students' potential, Caitriona has taught English in several countries and continues to explore new cultures through her travels.