The War Of The Worlds »

H.G.(Herbert George) Wells (1866-1946), born of lower middle class parents, was largely self-educated. A government scholarship allowed him to attended the Royal College of Science where he studied with Thomas Henry Huxley.

Although he wrote a number of different types of fiction as well as non-fiction, he is best remembered for his science fiction. His firm grounding in science shows forth in this genre.

In 1938, Orson Welles, broadcast a dramatization on radio of H. G. Wells' novel The War of the Worlds, which was so believable that people fled their homes to avoid the Martian invasion.

In The War of the Worlds (1898) H. G. Wells invented the myth of invasion from outer space. Martians land near London, conquering all before them, and ruin the metropolis; the fate of civilization and even of the human race remains in doubt until the very last.

The War of the Worlds is disturbingly realistic both because of its setting -- Wells bicycled the route the Martians take on landing -- and because of its characters: the superstitious curate, boastful artilleryman, and enterprising medical student are believable if not sympathetic figures, as well as signifying types of fin-de-siecle change and vision. The novel exemplifies most dramatically the scientific scepticism and vivid narrative imagination which make Wells the pre-eminent founder of modern science fiction.