10 Centuries-Old Predictions That Actually Came True

6. Automatic Doors

When: 1899 Where: 'When The Sleeper Wakes' by H.G. Wells H.G. Wells is often referred to as the father of science fiction, with works including War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man and The Time Machine. Among his works were a number of impressive predictions of the future, including the relatively low-key invention of automatic doors in When The Sleeper Wakes: "The two men addressed turned obediently, after one reluctant glance at Graham, and instead of going through the archway as he expected, walked straight to the dead wall of the apartment opposite the archway. And then came a strange thing; a long strip of this apparently solid wall rolled up with a snap, hung over the two retreating men and fell again, and immediately Graham was alone with the new comer and the purple-robed man with the flaxen beard." Real, electric-powered automatic doors weren't invented until 1960, by inventors Dee Horton and Lew Hewitt. Wells' prediction was over half a century ahead of its time, much like those seen in many of his later works.