20 Freakishly Specific Predictions From History That Came True
17. HG Wells Forecasts The Invention Of Atomic Bombs (1913)
It seems HG Wells liked to predict the destruction of humanity because, as well as penning his most famous work The War of the Worlds in which Earth is attacked by extra-terrestrial lifeforms, he also forecast the use of the atomic bomb in his 1914 novel "The World Set Free". In it, the Englishman wrote:
"The atomic bombs were thrown... They made a mighty thunder in the air, leaving a flaring trail in the sky... a black background to these tremendous pillars of fire... (and) radio-active vapour drifting somewhere scores of miles from the bomb centre and killing... all they overtook."
The USA started the Manhattan Project in 1940 - and then dropped bombs on Hiroshima (August 6, 1945) and Nagasaki (August 9, 1945), where up to 246,000 Japanese people perished in a cloud of ash.
NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.
It seems HG Wells liked to predict the destruction of humanity because, as well as penning his most famous work The War of the Worlds in which Earth is attacked by extra-terrestrial lifeforms, he also forecast the use of the atomic bomb in his 1914 novel "The World Set Free". In it, the Englishman wrote: