The term "SCIENCE FICTION" was not used until long after Jules Verne"s death in 1905, yet he is the undisputed founder of the genre.He produced fiction in many other forms, but in the novels of his famous series called Les Voyages Extraordinaires, (Strange Journeys), he invariably presents a credible scientific hypothesis and spins a tale of high adventure around an investigation of its possible consequences.Jules Verne was the first author to combine geological theory with scientific fact, accurate technical detail and fiction, and was a precursor, establishing a formula that was adopted by most subsequent writers of science fiction.

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Jules Verne's third great 'science fiction' novel describes the discovery and exploration of a secret tunnel which leads through a volcano to the centre of the Earth. The leader of the expedition is an archetypal comic and eccentric boffin, and together with his ward. his nephew Axel (who is in love with the ward), and an estimable Icelandic guide, the journey is made.

Journey to the Centre o[ the Earth achieved instant and enduring popularity on publication in 1874. Together with Around the World in Eighty Days, Five Weeks in a Balloon and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, (all available as Wordsworth Classics). it established Verne as an author of high adventure who filled his stories with a wealth of technical detail, and the energy and freshness of an extraordinary, inventive imagination.