The Innovations and Predictions of H.G. Wells
             When one mentions the term “science fiction,” only one name should come to mind: H.G Wells. Wells is indeed best known today as the father of modern science fiction. Over a career that spanned five decades, Wells produced nearly one hundred full-length books, a large number of them novels. The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, The War of Worlds, World Brain, and several other works in Wells’s canon are classics in the field of science fiction that have profoundly influenced the course of the genre. Because Wells soon became one of the best-selling and most controversial writers of his time, leading to immense popularity, critic Frank MacConnell even refers to him “the father, the one genius, even the Shakespeare of science fiction,” (438). His novels are known for employing strong elements of carefully paced suspense as well as for illustrating his remarkable ability to render convincingly the most bizarre and improbable characters and events. He makes frequent use of the mysterious and the horrific as he develops serious artistic themes. Because of his widespread popularity and prominent success, a number of his works have formed the basis of well-known radio and screen productions; one or two of his tales always seem to find their way into anthologies of the modern short story and science fiction. Over the years the tastes of the reading public have changed, however, and his work has not always fared well. Also, his work sometimes “has themes and characters which are too often repeated, and begin to sound stale on successive encounters,” (Dettmar 380). Nevertheless, he remains one of the most important innovators in the history of science fiction. Though quite often overlooked, H.G. Wells used his “Wellsian imagination” to enhance many accurate innovations and predictions in modern science, the most prominent being his pre...