Misplaced Pages

#933066

134-673: Fictional mecha vary greatly in size and shape, but are distinguished from vehicles by their humanoid or biomorphic appearance, although they are bigger, often much bigger, than human beings. Different subgenres exist, with varying connotations of realism. The concept of Super Robot and Real Robot are two such examples found in Japanese anime and manga . Real-world piloted humanoid or non-humanoid robotic platforms , existing or planned, may also be called "mecha". In Japanese, "mecha" may refer to mobile machinery or vehicles (including aircraft) in general, piloted or otherwise . 'Mecha'

268-423: A Roman Catholic , Verne gravitated towards deism . Some scholars believe his novels reflect a deist philosophy, as they often involve the notion of God or divine providence but rarely mention the concept of Christ. On 9 March 1886, as Verne returned home, his twenty-six-year-old nephew, Gaston, shot at him twice with a pistol . The first bullet missed, but the second one entered Verne's left leg, giving him

402-476: A bird 's legs, hence the name. However, birds actually have forward-facing knees; they are digitigrade , and what most call the "knee" is actually the ankle. The 1868 Edward S. Ellis novel The Steam Man of the Prairies featured a steam-powered, back-piloted, mechanical man. The 1880 Jules Verne novel The Steam House ( La Maison à Vapeur ) featured a steam-powered, piloted, mechanical elephant. One of

536-530: A cockpit , typically located in the chest or head of the mech. While the distinction is often hazy, mecha typically does not refer to form-fitting powered armor such as Iron Man 's suit. They are usually much larger than the wearer, like Iron Man's enemy the Iron Monger , or the mobile suits depicted in the Gundam franchise. In most cases, mecha are depicted as fighting machines, whose appeal comes from

670-449: A skyscraper ( Space Runaway Ideon , Genesis of Aquarion , Science Ninja Team Gatchaman , Neon Genesis Evangelion ), some are big enough to contain an entire city ( Macross ), some the size of a planet ( Diebuster ), galaxies ( Getter Robo , Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann ), or even as large as universes ( Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Lagann-hen , Demonbane , Transformers: Alternity ). The first titan robots seen were in

804-596: A south-pointing chariot , a vehicle with an early form of guidance system. The stagecoach , a four-wheeled vehicle drawn by horses, originated in 13th century England. Railways began reappearing in Europe after the Dark Ages . The earliest known record of a railway in Europe from this period is a stained-glass window in the Minster of Freiburg im Breisgau dating from around 1350. In 1515, Cardinal Matthäus Lang wrote

938-650: A super robot , with Getter Robo (1974 debut). An early use of mech-like machines outside Japan is found in "The Invisible Empire", a Federal Men 's story arc by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster (serialized 1936 in New Comics #8–10). Other examples include the Mexican comic Invictus by Leonel Guillermo Prieto and Victaleno León; the Brazilian comic Audaz, o demolidor , by Álvaro "Aruom" Moura and Messias de Mello (1938–1949), inspired by Invictus , created for

1072-513: A wagonway , a predecessor of the railway, found so far was the 6 to 8.5 km (4 to 5 mi) long Diolkos wagonway, which transported boats across the Isthmus of Corinth in Greece since around 600 BC. Wheeled vehicles pulled by men and animals ran in grooves in limestone , which provided the track element, preventing the wagons from leaving the intended route. In 200 CE, Ma Jun built

1206-433: A boost from high altitude winds. Compressed gas is currently an experimental method of storing energy. In this case, compressed gas is simply stored in a tank and released when necessary. Like elastics, they have hysteresis losses when gas heats up during compression. Gravitational potential energy is a form of energy used in gliders, skis, bobsleds and numerous other vehicles that go down hill. Regenerative braking

1340-483: A chance to court Morel in earnest, he jumped at her brother's offer to go into business with a broker. Verne's father was initially dubious but gave in to his son's requests for approval in November 1856. With his financial situation finally looking promising, Verne won the favor of Morel and her family, and the couple were married on 10 January 1857. Verne plunged into his new business obligations, leaving his work at

1474-597: A description of the Reisszug , a funicular railway at the Hohensalzburg Fortress in Austria. The line originally used wooden rails and a hemp haulage rope and was operated by human or animal power, through a treadwheel . 1769: Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot is often credited with building the first self-propelled mechanical vehicle or automobile in 1769. In Russia, in the 1780s, Ivan Kulibin developed

SECTION 10

#1732794110934

1608-531: A dream he described his misery. This requited but aborted love affair seems to have permanently marked the author and his work, and his novels include a significant number of young women married against their will (Gérande in Master Zacharius (1854), Sava in Mathias Sandorf (1885), Ellen in A Floating City (1871), etc.), to such an extent that the scholar Christian Chelebourg attributed

1742-853: A fact that the New York Times denied in error . Rocket engines can be particularly simple, sometimes consisting of nothing more than a catalyst, as in the case of a hydrogen peroxide rocket. This makes them an attractive option for vehicles such as jet packs. Despite their simplicity, rocket engines are often dangerous and susceptible to explosions. The fuel they run off may be flammable, poisonous, corrosive or cryogenic. They also suffer from poor efficiency. For these reasons, rocket engines are only used when absolutely necessary. Electric motors are used in electric vehicles such as electric bicycles , electric scooters, small boats, subways, trains , trolleybuses , trams and experimental aircraft . Electric motors can be very efficient: over 90% efficiency

1876-671: A flight with an actual ornithopter on July 31, 2010. Paddle wheels are used on some older watercraft and their reconstructions. These ships were known as paddle steamers . Because paddle wheels simply push against the water, their design and construction is very simple. The oldest such ship in scheduled service is the Skibladner . Many pedalo boats also use paddle wheels for propulsion. Screw-propelled vehicles are propelled by auger -like cylinders fitted with helical flanges. Because they can produce thrust on both land and water, they are commonly used on all-terrain vehicles. The ZiL-2906

2010-441: A friend of his mother's. While continuing his law studies, he fed his passion for the theater, writing numerous plays. Verne later recalled: "I was greatly under the influence of Victor Hugo , indeed, very excited by reading and re-reading his works. At that time I could have recited by heart whole pages of Notre Dame de Paris , but it was his dramatic work that most influenced me." Another source of creative stimulation came from

2144-608: A furnished apartment at 24 Rue de l'Ancienne-Comédie, which he shared with Édouard Bonamy, another student of Nantes origin. (On his 1847 Paris visit, Verne had stayed at 2 Rue Thérèse, the house of his aunt Charuel, on the Butte Saint-Roch.) Verne arrived in Paris during a time of political upheaval: the French Revolution of 1848 . In February, Louis Philippe I had been overthrown and had fled; on 24 February,

2278-423: A gas station. Fuel cells are similar to batteries in that they convert from chemical to electrical energy, but have their own advantages and disadvantages. Electrified rails and overhead cables are a common source of electrical energy on subways, railways, trams, and trolleybuses. Solar energy is a more modern development, and several solar vehicles have been successfully built and tested, including Helios ,

2412-468: A go around is needed. Parachutes are used to slow down vehicles travelling very fast. Parachutes have been used in land, air and space vehicles such as the ThrustSSC , Eurofighter Typhoon and Apollo Command Module . Some older Soviet passenger jets had braking parachutes for emergency landings. Boats use similar devices called sea anchors to maintain stability in rough seas. To further increase

2546-515: A hot exhaust. Trains using turbines are called gas turbine-electric locomotives . Examples of surface vehicles using turbines are M1 Abrams , MTT Turbine SUPERBIKE and the Millennium . Pulse jet engines are similar in many ways to turbojets but have almost no moving parts. For this reason, they were very appealing to vehicle designers in the past; however, their noise, heat, and inefficiency have led to their abandonment. A historical example of

2680-543: A human-pedalled, three-wheeled carriage with modern features such as a flywheel , brake , gear box and bearings ; however, it was not developed further. In 1783, the Montgolfier brothers developed the first balloon vehicle. In 1801, Richard Trevithick built and demonstrated his Puffing Devil road locomotive, which many believe was the first demonstration of a steam-powered road vehicle, though it could not maintain sufficient steam pressure for long periods and

2814-849: A language that his father had been very interested in. In 1989, Verne's great-grandson discovered his ancestor's as-yet-unpublished novel Paris in the Twentieth Century , which was subsequently published in 1994. Verne's largest body of work is the Voyages extraordinaires series, which includes all of his novels except for the two rejected manuscripts Paris in the Twentieth Century and Backwards to Britain (published posthumously in 1994 and 1989, respectively) and for projects left unfinished at his death (many of which would be posthumously adapted or rewritten for publication by his son Michel). Verne also wrote many plays, poems, song texts, operetta libretti , and short stories, as well as

SECTION 20

#1732794110934

2948-637: A large scale for use in wars. The real robot genre also tends to feature more complex characters with moral conflicts and personal problems. The genre is therefore aimed primarily at young adults instead of children. Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) is largely considered the first series to introduce the real robot concept and, along with The Super Dimension Fortress Macross (1982), would form the basis of what people would later call real robot anime. Some robot mecha are capable of transformation ( Macross and Zeta Gundam ) or combining to form even bigger ones ( Beast King GoLion and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann ),

3082-612: A long-term contract in which Verne would give him three volumes of text per year, each of which Hetzel would buy outright for a flat fee. Verne, finding both a steady salary and a sure outlet for writing at last, accepted immediately. For the rest of his lifetime, most of his novels would be serialized in Hetzel's Magasin before their appearance in book form, beginning with his second novel for Hetzel, The Adventures of Captain Hatteras (1864–65). When The Adventures of Captain Hatteras

3216-485: A magazine, and accepted the novel, giving Verne suggestions for improvement. Verne made the proposed revisions within two weeks and returned to Hetzel with the final draft, now titled Five Weeks in a Balloon . It was published by Hetzel on 31 January 1863. To secure his services for the planned magazine, to be called the Magasin d'Éducation et de Récréation ( Magazine of Education and Recreation ), Hetzel also drew up

3350-705: A man of 40, with whom she would have five children. After a short stay in Paris, where he passed first-year law exams, Verne returned to Nantes for his father's help in preparing for the second year. (Provincial law students were in that era required to go to Paris to take exams.) While in Nantes, he met Rose Herminie Arnaud Grossetière, a young woman one year his senior, and fell intensely in love with her. He wrote and dedicated some thirty poems to her, including La Fille de l'air ( The Daughter of Air ), which describes her as "blonde and enchanting / winged and transparent". His passion seems to have been reciprocated, at least for

3484-446: A milking stool, imagine it a great body of machinery on a tripod stand." Ōgon Bat , a kamishibai that debuted in 1931 (later adapted into an anime in 1967), featured the first piloted humanoid giant robot, Dai Ningen Tanku ( 大人間タンク ) , but as an enemy rather than a protagonist. In 1934, Gajo Sakamoto launched Tank Tankuro ( タンクタンクロー ) on a metal creature that becomes a battle machine. The first humanoid giant robot piloted by

3618-571: A neighbor: living on the same floor in the Rue de l'Ancienne-Comédie apartment house was a young composer, Aristide Hignard , with whom Verne soon became good friends, and Verne wrote several texts for Hignard to set as chansons . During this period, Verne's letters to his parents primarily focused on expenses and on a suddenly appearing series of violent stomach cramps , the first of many he would suffer from during his life. (Modern scholars have hypothesized that he suffered from colitis ; Verne believed

3752-417: A permanent limp that could not be overcome. This incident was not publicised in the media, but Gaston spent the rest of his life in a mental asylum . After the deaths of both his mother and Hetzel (who died in 1886), Jules Verne began publishing darker works. In 1888 he entered politics and was elected town councillor of Amiens , where he championed several improvements and served for fifteen years. Verne

3886-543: A provisional government of the French Second Republic took power, but political demonstrations continued, and social tension remained. In June, barricades went up in Paris, and the government sent Louis-Eugène Cavaignac to crush the insurrection. Verne entered the city shortly before the election of Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte as the first president of the Republic, a state of affairs that would last until

4020-546: A real incident. In 1840, the Vernes moved again to a large apartment at No. 6 Rue Jean-Jacques-Rousseau, where the family's youngest child, Marie, was born in 1842. In the same year Verne entered another religious school, the Petit Séminaire de Saint-Donatien, as a lay student. His unfinished novel Un prêtre en 1839 ( A Priest in 1839 ), written in his teens and the earliest of his prose works to survive, describes

4154-589: A retired shipowner, who had gone around the world and served as mayor of Brains from 1828 to 1837. Verne took joy in playing interminable rounds of the Game of the Goose with his uncle, and both the game and his uncle's name would be memorialized in two late novels ( The Will of an Eccentric (1900) and Robur the Conqueror (1886), respectively). Legend has it that in 1839, at the age of 11, Verne secretly procured

Mecha - Misplaced Pages Continue

4288-750: A robot that you could drive, like a car. Mazinger Z featured giant robots that were "piloted by means of a small flying car and command center that docked inside the head." It was also a pioneer in die-cast metal toys such as the Chogokin series in Japan and the Shogun Warriors in the U.S., that were (and still are) very popular with children and collectors. Robot/mecha anime and manga differ vastly in storytelling and animation quality from title to title, and content ranges from children's shows to ones intended for an older teen or adult audience. Some of

4422-672: A secure future in law reached its climax in January 1852, when his father offered Verne his own Nantes law practice. Faced with this ultimatum, Verne decided conclusively to continue his literary life and refuse the job, writing: "Am I not right to follow my own instincts? It's because I know who I am that I realize what I can be one day." Meanwhile, Verne was spending much time at the Bibliothèque nationale de France , conducting research for his stories and feeding his passion for science and recent discoveries, especially in geography . It

4556-585: A sharp condemnation of scientific hubris and ambition, followed soon afterward by A Winter Amid the Ice , a polar adventure story whose themes closely anticipated many of Verne's novels. The Musée also published some nonfiction popular science articles which, though unsigned, are generally attributed to Verne. Verne's work for the magazine was cut short in 1856 when he had a serious quarrel with Pitre-Chevalier and refused to continue contributing (a refusal he would maintain until 1863, when Pitre-Chevalier died, and

4690-419: A short time, but Grossetière's parents frowned upon the idea of their daughter marrying a young student of uncertain future. They married her instead to Armand Terrien de la Haye, a rich landowner ten years her senior, on 19 July 1848. The sudden marriage sent Verne into deep frustration. He wrote a hallucinatory letter to his mother, apparently composed in a state of half-drunkenness, in which under pretext of

4824-597: A solar-powered aircraft. Nuclear power is a more exclusive form of energy storage, currently limited to large ships and submarines, mostly military. Nuclear energy can be released by a nuclear reactor , nuclear battery , or repeatedly detonating nuclear bombs . There have been two experiments with nuclear-powered aircraft, the Tupolev Tu-119 and the Convair X-6 . Mechanical strain is another method of storing energy, whereby an elastic band or metal spring

4958-407: A special arrangement in which all four main wheels can be angled. Skids can also be used to steer by angling them, as in the case of a snowmobile . Ships, boats, submarines, dirigibles and aeroplanes usually have a rudder for steering. On an airplane, ailerons are used to bank the airplane for directional control, sometimes assisted by the rudder. With no power applied, most vehicles come to

5092-632: A spot as cabin boy on the three-mast ship Coralie with the intention of traveling to the Indies and bringing back a coral necklace for his cousin Caroline. The evening the ship set out for the Indies, it stopped first at Paimboeuf where Pierre Verne arrived just in time to catch his son and make him promise to travel "only in his imagination". It is now known that the legend is an exaggerated tale invented by Verne's first biographer, his niece Marguerite Allotte de la Füye, though it may have been inspired by

5226-532: A stage comedy, Les Pailles rompues ( The Broken Straws ). The two young men revised the play together, and Dumas, through arrangements with his father, had it produced by the Opéra-National at the Théâtre Historique in Paris, opening on 12 June 1850. In 1851, Verne met with a fellow writer from Nantes, Pierre-Michel-François Chevalier (known as "Pitre-Chevalier"), the editor-in-chief of

5360-622: A standard vehicle (such as a fighter plane or transport truck) and a fighting mecha robot. This concept of transforming mecha was pioneered by Japanese mecha designer Shōji Kawamori in the early 1980s, when he created the Diaclone toy line in 1980 and then the Macross anime franchise in 1982. In North America, the Macross franchise was adapted into the Robotech franchise in 1985, and then

5494-411: A stop due to friction . But it is often required to stop a vehicle faster than by friction alone, so almost all vehicles are equipped with a braking system. Wheeled vehicles are typically equipped with friction brakes, which use the friction between brake pads (stators) and brake rotors to slow the vehicle. Many airplanes have high-performance versions of the same system in their landing gear for use on

Mecha - Misplaced Pages Continue

5628-489: A vacuum, which limits their use to spaceborne vehicles. Ion thrusters run primarily off electricity, but they also need a propellant such as caesium , or, more recently xenon . Ion thrusters can achieve extremely high speeds and use little propellant; however, they are power-hungry. The mechanical energy that motors and engines produce must be converted to work by wheels, propellers, nozzles, or similar means. Aside from converting mechanical energy into motion, wheels allow

5762-422: A variety of conditions. One of the difficulties met when using gas motors is the cooling effect of expanding gas. These engines are limited by how quickly they absorb heat from their surroundings. The cooling effect can, however, double as air conditioning. Compressed gas motors also lose effectiveness with falling gas pressure. Ion thrusters are used on some satellites and spacecraft. They are only effective in

5896-560: A variety of essays and miscellaneous non-fiction. After his debut under Hetzel, Verne was enthusiastically received in France by writers and scientists alike, with George Sand and Théophile Gautier among his earliest admirers. Several notable contemporary figures, from the geographer Vivien de Saint-Martin to the critic Jules Claretie , spoke highly of Verne and his works in critical and biographical notes. However, Verne's growing popularity among readers and playgoers (due especially to

6030-528: A vehicle to roll along a surface and, with the exception of railed vehicles, to be steered. Wheels are ancient technology, with specimens being discovered from over 5000 years ago. Wheels are used in a plethora of vehicles, including motor vehicles, armoured personnel carriers , amphibious vehicles, airplanes, trains, skateboards and wheelbarrows. Nozzles are used in conjunction with almost all reaction engines. Vehicles using nozzles include jet aircraft, rockets, and personal watercraft . While most nozzles take

6164-400: A vehicle's steering through the gyroscopic effect . They have been used experimentally in gyrobuses . Wind energy is used by sailboats and land yachts as the primary source of energy. It is very cheap and fairly easy to use, the main issues being dependence on weather and upwind performance. Balloons also rely on the wind to move horizontally. Aircraft flying in the jet stream may get

6298-851: A year. The most successful of these are: Voyage au centre de la Terre ( Journey to the Center of the Earth , 1864); De la Terre à la Lune ( From the Earth to the Moon , 1865); Vingt mille lieues sous les mers ( Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas , 1869); and Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours ( Around the World in Eighty Days ), which first appeared in Le Temps in 1872. Verne could now live on his writings, but most of his wealth came from

6432-405: Is fuel . External combustion engines can use almost anything that burns as fuel, whilst internal combustion engines and rocket engines are designed to burn a specific fuel, typically gasoline, diesel or ethanol . Food is the fuel used to power non-motor vehicles such as cycles, rickshaws and other pedestrian-controlled vehicles. Another common medium for storing energy is batteries , which have

6566-452: Is an abbreviation, first used in Japanese, of 'mechanical'. In Japanese, mecha encompasses all mechanical objects, including cars , guns , computers , and other devices, and 'robot' or 'giant robot' is used to distinguish limbed vehicles from other mechanical devices. Outside of this usage, it has become associated with large humanoid machines with limbs or other biological characteristics. Mecha differ from robots in that they are piloted from

6700-519: Is an example of capturing kinetic energy where the brakes of a vehicle are augmented with a generator or other means of extracting energy. When needed, the energy is taken from the source and consumed by one or more motors or engines. Sometimes there is an intermediate medium, such as the batteries of a diesel submarine. Most motor vehicles have internal combustion engines . They are fairly cheap, easy to maintain, reliable, safe and small. Since these engines burn fuel, they have long ranges but pollute

6834-478: Is common. Electric motors can also be built to be powerful, reliable, low-maintenance and of any size. Electric motors can deliver a range of speeds and torques without necessarily using a gearbox (although it may be more economical to use one). Electric motors are limited in their use chiefly by the difficulty of supplying electricity. Compressed gas motors have been used on some vehicles experimentally. They are simple, efficient, safe, cheap, reliable and operate in

SECTION 50

#1732794110934

6968-414: Is deformed and releases energy as it is allowed to return to its ground state. Systems employing elastic materials suffer from hysteresis , and metal springs are too dense to be useful in many cases. Flywheels store energy in a spinning mass. Because a light and fast rotor is energetically favorable, flywheels can pose a significant safety hazard. Moreover, flywheels leak energy fairly quickly and affect

7102-438: Is desirable and important in supplying traction to facilitate motion on land. Most land vehicles rely on friction for accelerating, decelerating and changing direction. Sudden reductions in traction can cause loss of control and accidents. Most vehicles, with the notable exception of railed vehicles, have at least one steering mechanism. Wheeled vehicles steer by angling their front or rear wheels. The B-52 Stratofortress has

7236-421: Is his own, the history of the universe". Late in life, Verne confirmed that this commission had become the running theme of his novels: "My object has been to depict the earth, and not the earth alone, but the universe... And I have tried at the same time to realize a very high ideal of beauty of style. It is said that there can't be any style in a novel of adventure, but it isn't true." However, he also noted that

7370-524: Is never empty , a propeller could be made to work in space. Similarly to propeller vehicles, some vehicles use wings for propulsion. Sailboats and sailplanes are propelled by the forward component of lift generated by their sails/wings. Ornithopters also produce thrust aerodynamically. Ornithopters with large rounded leading edges produce lift by leading-edge suction forces. Research at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies lead to

7504-498: Is often tied in with toy manufacturers. Large franchises such as Gundam , Macross , Transformers , and Zoids have hundreds of different model kits. The size of mecha can vary according to the story and concepts involved. Some of them may not be considerably taller than a tank ( Armored Trooper Votoms , Yatterman , Megazone 23 , Code Geass ), some may be a few stories tall ( Gundam , Escaflowne , Bismark , Gurren Lagann ), others can be titan sized as tall as

7638-591: Is restricted to tip jet helicopters and high speed aircraft such as the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird . Rocket engines are primarily used on rockets, rocket sleds and experimental aircraft. Rocket engines are extremely powerful. The heaviest vehicle ever to leave the ground, the Saturn V rocket, was powered by five F-1 rocket engines generating a combined 180 million horsepower (134.2 gigawatt). Rocket engines also have no need to "push off" anything,

7772-505: Is the most-produced helicopter. The top commercial jet airliner is the Boeing 737 , at about 10,000 in 2018. At around 14,000 for both, the most produced trams are the KTM-5 and Tatra T3 . The most common trolleybus is ZiU-9 . Locomotion consists of a means that allows displacement with little opposition, a power source to provide the required kinetic energy and a means to control

7906-505: The French coup of 1851 . In a letter to his family, Verne described the bombarded state of the city after the recent June Days uprising but assured them that the anniversary of Bastille Day had gone by without any significant conflict. Verne used his family connections to make an entrance into Paris society. His uncle Francisque de Chatêaubourg introduced him into literary salons , and Verne particularly frequented those of Mme de Barrère,

8040-615: The January Uprising . Hetzel, not wanting to alienate the lucrative Russian market for Verne's books, demanded that Nemo be made an enemy of the slave trade , a situation that would make him an unambiguous hero. Verne, after fighting vehemently against the change, finally invented a compromise in which Nemo's past is left mysterious. After this disagreement, Verne became notably cooler in his dealings with Hetzel, taking suggestions into consideration but often rejecting them outright. From that point, Verne published two or more volumes

8174-628: The Magazine d'Éducation et de Récréation , a Hetzel biweekly publication, before being published in book form. His brother Paul contributed to 40th French climbing of the Mont-Blanc and a collection of short stories – Doctor Ox – in 1874. Verne became wealthy and famous. Meanwhile, Michel Verne married an actress against his father's wishes, had two children by an underage mistress and buried himself in debts. The relationship between father and son improved as Michel grew older. Though raised as

SECTION 60

#1732794110934

8308-675: The Musée des familles : Martin Paz , a novella set in Lima , which Verne wrote in 1851 and published 10 July through 11 August 1852, and Les Châteaux en Californie, ou, Pierre qui roule n'amasse pas mousse ( The Castles in California, or, A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss ), a one-act comedy full of racy double entendres . In April and May 1854, the magazine published Verne's short story Master Zacharius , an E. T. A. Hoffmann -like fantasy featuring

8442-435: The best man at the wedding of a Nantes friend, Auguste Lelarge, to an Amiens woman named Aimée du Fraysne de Viane. Verne, invited to stay with the bride's family, took to them warmly, befriending the entire household and finding himself increasingly attracted to the bride's sister, Honorine Anne Hébée Morel (née du Fraysne de Viane), a widow aged 26 with two young children. Hoping to find a secure source of income, as well as

8576-456: The robinsonade would stay with Verne throughout his life and appear in many of his novels, some of which include The Mysterious Island (1874), Second Fatherland (1900), and The School for Robinsons (1882). In 1836, Verne went on to École Saint‑Stanislas, a Catholic school suiting the pious religious tastes of his father. Verne quickly distinguished himself in mémoire (recitation from memory), geography, Greek, Latin, and singing. In

8710-590: The run and gun shooters Hover Attack in 1984 and Thexder in 1985, and Arsys Software 's 3D role-playing shooters WiBArm in 1986 and Star Cruiser in 1988. Historically mecha-based games have been more popular in Japan than in other countries. There are a few real prototypes of mecha-like vehicles. Currently almost all of these are highly specialized or just for concept purpose, and as such may not see mass production . Most of these experimental projects were made and first presented in East Asia. In

8844-535: The 1948 manga Atomic Power Android ( 原子力人造人間 , Genshiryoku Jinzō Ningen ) and Mitsuteru Yokoyama's 1956 manga Tetsujin 28-go . However, it was not until the advent of Go Nagai 's Mazinger Z that the genre was established. Mazinger Z innovated by adding the inclusion of futuristic weapons, and the concept of being able to pilot from a cockpit (rather than via remote control, in the case of Tetsujin). According to Go Nagai: I wanted to create something different, and I thought it would be interesting to have

8978-450: The 2010s, he was the most translated French author in the world. In France, 2005 was declared "Jules Verne Year" on the occasion of the centenary of the writer's death. Verne was born on 8 February 1828, on Île Feydeau, a then small artificial island on the river Loire within the town of Nantes (later filled in and incorporated into the surrounding land area), in No. 4 Rue Olivier-de-Clisson,

9112-634: The Bibliothèque to do scientific and historical research, much of which he copied onto notecards for future use—a system he would continue for the rest of his life. According to the recollections of a colleague, Verne "did better in repartee than in business". In July 1858, Verne and Aristide Hignard seized an opportunity offered by Hignard's brother: a sea voyage, at no charge, from Bordeaux to Liverpool and Scotland. The journey, Verne's first trip outside France, deeply impressed him, and upon his return to Paris he fictionalized his recollections to form

9246-554: The Center of the Earth (1864), Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas (1870), and Around the World in Eighty Days (1872). His novels, always well-researched according to the scientific knowledge then available, are generally set in the second half of the 19th century, taking into account the technological advances of the time. In addition to his novels, he wrote numerous plays, short stories, autobiographical accounts, poetry, songs, and scientific, artistic, and literary studies. His work has been adapted for film and television since

9380-710: The Diaclone toy line was adapted into the Transformers franchise in 1986. Some of Kawamori's most iconic transforming mecha designs include the VF-1 Valkyrie from the Macross and Robotech franchises, and Optimus Prime (called Convoy in Japan) from the Transformers and Diaclone franchises. In Japan, "robot anime" (known as "mecha anime" outside Japan) is one of the oldest genres in anime. Robot anime

9514-691: The Théâtre Lyrique and taking up a full-time job as an agent de change on the Paris Bourse , where he became the associate of the broker Fernand Eggly. Verne woke up early each morning so that he would have time to write, before going to the Bourse for the day's work; in the rest of his spare time, he continued to consort with the Onze-Sans-Femme club (all eleven of its "bachelors" had by this time married). He also continued to frequent

9648-1141: The Western world, there are few examples of mecha, however, several machines have been constructed by both companies and private figures. Vehicle A vehicle (from Latin vehiculum ) is a machine designed for self- propulsion , usually to transport people, cargo , or both. The term "vehicle" typically refers to land vehicles such as human-powered vehicles (e.g. bicycles , tricycles , velomobiles ), animal-powered transports (e.g. horse-drawn carriages / wagons , ox carts , dog sleds ), motor vehicles (e.g. motorcycles , cars , trucks , buses , mobility scooters ) and railed vehicles ( trains , trams and monorails ), but more broadly also includes cable transport ( cable cars and elevators ), watercraft ( ships , boats and underwater vehicles ), amphibious vehicles (e.g. screw-propelled vehicles , hovercraft , seaplanes ), aircraft ( airplanes , helicopters , gliders and aerostats ) and space vehicles ( spacecraft , spaceplanes and launch vehicles ). This article primarily concerns

9782-863: The advantages of being responsive, useful in a wide range of power levels, environmentally friendly, efficient, simple to install, and easy to maintain. Batteries also facilitate the use of electric motors, which have their own advantages. On the other hand, batteries have low energy densities, short service life, poor performance at extreme temperatures, long charging times, and difficulties with disposal (although they can usually be recycled). Like fuel, batteries store chemical energy and can cause burns and poisoning in event of an accident. Batteries also lose effectiveness with time. The issue of charge time can be resolved by swapping discharged batteries with charged ones; however, this incurs additional hardware costs and may be impractical for larger batteries. Moreover, there must be standard batteries for battery swapping to work at

9916-458: The air, causing harmful acid rain . While intermittent internal combustion engines were once the primary means of aircraft propulsion, they have been largely superseded by continuous internal combustion engines, such as gas turbines . Turbine engines are light and, particularly when used on aircraft, efficient. On the other hand, they cost more and require careful maintenance. They can also be damaged by ingesting foreign objects, and they produce

10050-417: The aircraft when retracted. Reverse thrust is also used in many aeroplane engines. Propeller aircraft achieve reverse thrust by reversing the pitch of the propellers, while jet aircraft do so by redirecting their engine exhausts forward. On aircraft carriers , arresting gears are used to stop an aircraft. Pilots may even apply full forward throttle on touchdown, in case the arresting gear does not catch and

10184-522: The backbone of a semi-autobiographical novel, Backwards to Britain (written in the autumn and winter of 1859–1860 and not published until 1989). A second complimentary voyage in 1861 took Hignard and Verne to Stockholm , from where they traveled to Christiania and through Telemark . Verne left Hignard in Denmark to return in haste to Paris, but missed the birth on 3 August 1861 of his only biological son, Michel . Meanwhile, Verne continued work on

10318-473: The beginning of cinema, as well as for comic books, theater, opera, music and video games. Verne is considered to be an important author in France and most of Europe, where he has had a wide influence on the literary avant-garde and on surrealism . His reputation was markedly different in the Anglosphere where he had often been labeled a writer of genre fiction or children's books, largely because of

10452-439: The combination of potent weaponry with a more stylish combat technique than a mere vehicle. Often, they are the primary means of combat, with conflicts sometimes being decided through gladiatorial matches . Other works represent mecha as one component of an integrated military force, supported by and fighting alongside tanks , fighter aircraft , and infantry , functioning as a mechanical cavalry. The applications often highlight

10586-474: The end of 1854, another outbreak of cholera led to the death of Jules Seveste, Verne's employer at the Théâtre Lyrique and by then a good friend. Though his contract only held him to a further year of service, Verne remained connected to the theater for several years after Seveste's death, seeing additional productions to fruition. He also continued to write plays and musical comedies, most of which were not performed. In May 1856, Verne traveled to Amiens to be

10720-410: The environment. A related engine is the external combustion engine . An example of this is the steam engine. Aside from fuel, steam engines also need water, making them impractical for some purposes. Steam engines also need time to warm up, whereas IC engines can usually run right after being started, although this may not be recommended in cold conditions. Steam engines burning coal release sulfur into

10854-507: The first appearances of such machines in modern literature was the tripod (or "fighting-machine", as they are known in the novel) of H. G. Wells ' famous The War of the Worlds (1897). The novel does not contain a fully detailed description of the tripods' mode of locomotion , but it is hinted at: "Can you imagine a milking stool tilted and bowled violently along the ground? That was the impression those instant flashes gave. But instead of

10988-629: The first large-scale rocket program. The Opel RAK.1 became the first rocket car ; the following year, it also became the first rocket-powered aircraft . In 1961, the Soviet space program 's Vostok 1 carried Yuri Gagarin into space. In 1969, NASA 's Apollo 11 achieved the first Moon landing . In 2010, the number of motor vehicles in operation worldwide surpassed 1 billion, roughly one for every seven people. There are over 1 billion bicycles in use worldwide. In 2002 there were an estimated 590 million cars and 205 million motorcycles in service in

11122-579: The first mecha featured in manga and anime were super robots . The super robot genre features superhero -like giant robots that are often one-of-a-kind and the product of an ancient civilization, aliens or a mad genius . These robots are usually piloted by Japanese teenagers via voice command or neural uplink , and are often powered by mystical or exotic energy sources. The later real robot genre features robots that do not have mythical superpowers, but rather use largely conventional, albeit futuristic weapons and power sources, and are often mass-produced on

11256-675: The first sustained, controlled, reproducible flights. In 1903, the Wright brothers flew the Wright Flyer , the first controlled, powered aircraft, in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina . In 1907, Gyroplane No.I became the first tethered rotorcraft to fly. The same year, the Cornu helicopter became the first rotorcraft to achieve free flight. In 1928, Opel initiated the Opel-RAK program,

11390-405: The firstborn son of the family, would not attempt to make money in literature but would instead inherit the family law practice. In 1847, Verne's father sent him to Paris, primarily to begin his studies in law school, and secondarily (according to family legend) to distance him temporarily from Nantes. His cousin Caroline, with whom he was in love, was married on 27 April 1847, to Émile Dezaunay,

11524-419: The following international classification: Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne ( / v ɜːr n / ; French: [ʒyl ɡabʁijɛl vɛʁn] ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the Voyages extraordinaires , a series of bestselling adventure novels including Journey to

11658-523: The giant robot genre in Japan. The first anime featuring a giant mecha being piloted by the protagonist from within a cockpit was the Super Robot show Mazinger Z , written by Go Nagai and introduced in 1972. Mazinger Z introduced the notion of mecha as pilotable war machines, rather than remote-controlled robots. Ken Ishikawa and Go Nagai, later, introduced the concept of 'combination' ( gattai ( 合体 ) ), where several units slot together to form

11792-418: The ground. A Boeing 757 brake, for example, has 3 stators and 4 rotors. The Space Shuttle also uses frictional brakes on its wheels. As well as frictional brakes, hybrid and electric cars, trolleybuses and electric bicycles can also use regenerative brakes to recycle some of the vehicle's potential energy. High-speed trains sometimes use frictionless Eddy-current brakes ; however, widespread application of

11926-436: The highly abridged and altered translations in which his novels have often been printed. Since the 1980s, his literary reputation has improved. Jules Verne has been the second most-translated author in the world since 1979, ranking below Agatha Christie and above William Shakespeare . He has sometimes been called the "father of science fiction", a title that has also been given to H. G. Wells and Hugo Gernsback . In

12060-511: The highly successful stage version of Around the World in Eighty Days ) led to a gradual change in his literary reputation. As the novels and stage productions continued to sell, many contemporary critics felt that Verne's status as a commercially popular author meant he could only be seen as a mere genre-based storyteller, rather than a serious author worthy of academic study. This denial of formal literary status took various forms, including dismissive criticism by such writers as Émile Zola and

12194-488: The house of his maternal grandmother Dame Sophie Marie Adélaïde Julienne Allotte de La Fuÿe (born Guillochet de La Perrière). His parents were Pierre Verne, an avoué originally from Provins , and Sophie Allotte de La Fuÿe, a Nantes woman from a local family of navigators and shipowners, of distant Scottish descent. In 1829, the Verne family moved some hundred metres away to No. 2 Quai Jean-Bart, where Verne's brother Paul

12328-402: The idea of a "Roman de la Science", which he developed in a rough draft, inspired, according to his recollections, by his "love for maps and the great explorers of the world". It took shape as a story of travel across Africa and would eventually become his first published novel, Five Weeks in a Balloon . In 1862, through their mutual acquaintance Alfred de Bréhat, Verne came into contact with

12462-481: The illness to have been inherited from his mother's side. ) Rumors of an outbreak of cholera in March 1849 exacerbated these medical concerns. Yet another health problem would strike in 1851 when Verne suffered the first of four attacks of facial paralysis . These attacks, rather than being psychosomatic , were due to an inflammation in the middle ear , though this cause remained unknown to Verne during his life. In

12596-537: The lack of Verne's nomination for membership in the Académie Française , and was recognized by Verne himself, who said in a late interview: "The great regret of my life is that I have never taken any place in French literature." To Verne, who considered himself "a man of letters and an artist, living in the pursuit of the ideal", this critical dismissal on the basis of literary ideology could only be seen as

12730-514: The latter called 'combination'. Go Nagai and Ken Ishikawa are often credited with inventing this in 1974 with Getter Robo . Not all mecha need to be completely mechanical. Some have biological components with which to interface with their pilots, and some are partially biological themselves, such as in Neon Genesis Evangelion , Eureka Seven , and Zoids . Mecha based on anime have seen extreme cultural reception across

12864-571: The line of novel that I was destined to follow". Dumas fils put Verne in contact with Jules Seveste, a stage director who had taken over the directorship of the Théâtre Historique and renamed it the Théâtre Lyrique . Seveste offered Verne the job of secretary of the theater, with little or no salary attached. Verne accepted, using the opportunity to write and produce several comic operas written in collaboration with Hignard and

12998-399: The magazine Musée des familles ( The Family Museum ). Pitre-Chevalier was looking for articles about geography, history, science, and technology, and was keen to make sure that the educational component would be made accessible to large popular audiences using a straightforward prose style or an engaging fictional story. Verne, with his delight in diligent research, especially in geography,

13132-538: The magazine went to new editorship). While writing stories and articles for Pitre-Chevalier, Verne began to form the idea of inventing a new kind of novel, a "Roman de la Science" ("novel of science"), which would allow him to incorporate large amounts of the factual information he so enjoyed researching in the Bibliothèque. He is said to have discussed the project with the elder Alexandre Dumas, who had tried something similar with an unfinished novel, Isaac Laquedem , and who enthusiastically encouraged Verne's project. At

13266-582: The manga/anime franchise Patlabor and the American wargame BattleTech universe , also encompass mecha used for civilian purposes, such as heavy construction work, police functions, or firefighting . Mecha also have roles as transporters, recreation, advanced hazmat suits , and other research and development applications. Mecha have been used in fantasy settings, for example in the anime series Aura Battler Dunbine , The Vision of Escaflowne , Panzer World Galient , and Maze . In those cases,

13400-409: The mecha designs are usually based on some alternative or "lost" science-fiction technology from ancient times. In case of anime series Zoids , the machines resemble dinosaurs and animals, and have been shown to evolve from native metallic organisms. A chicken walker is a fictional type of bipedal robot or mecha, distinguished by its rear-facing knee joint . This type of articulation resembles

13534-619: The more ubiquitous land vehicles, which can be broadly classified by the type of contact interface with the ground : wheels , tracks , rails or skis , as well as the non-contact technologies such as maglev . ISO 3833-1977 is the international standard for road vehicle types, terms and definitions. It is estimated by historians that boats have been used since prehistory ; rock paintings depicting boats, dated from around 50,000 to 15,000 BC, were found in Australia . The oldest boats found by archaeological excavation are logboats , with

13668-483: The motion, such as a brake and steering system. By far, most vehicles use wheels which employ the principle of rolling to enable displacement with very little rolling friction . It is essential that a vehicle have a source of energy to drive it. Energy can be extracted from external sources, as in the cases of a sailboat , a solar-powered car , or an electric streetcar that uses overhead lines. Energy can also be stored, provided it can be converted on demand and

13802-779: The novels Invasion of the Sea and The Lighthouse at the End of the World after Jules's death. The Voyages extraordinaires series continued for several years afterwards at the same rate of two volumes a year. It was later discovered that Michel Verne had made extensive changes in these stories, and the original versions were eventually published at the end of the 20th century by the Jules Verne Society (Société Jules Verne). In 1919, Michel Verne published The Barsac Mission (French: L'Étonnante Aventure de la Mission Barsac ), whose original drafts contained references to Esperanto ,

13936-707: The oldest logboat found, the Pesse canoe found in a bog in the Netherlands, being carbon dated to 8040–7510 BC, making it 9,500–10,000 years old, A 7,000 year-old seagoing boat made from reeds and tar has been found in Kuwait. Boats were used between 4000 -3000 BC in Sumer , ancient Egypt and in the Indian Ocean. There is evidence of camel pulled wheeled vehicles about 4000–3000 BC. The earliest evidence of

14070-440: The original climax of Captain Hatteras , including the death of the title character, Verne wrote an entirely new conclusion in which Hatteras survived. Hetzel also rejected Verne's next submission, Paris in the Twentieth Century , believing its pessimistic view of the future and its condemnation of technological progress were too subversive for a family magazine. (The manuscript, believed lost for some time after Verne's death,

14204-459: The project was extremely ambitious: "Yes! But the Earth is very large, and life is very short! In order to leave a completed work behind, one would need to live to be at least 100 years old!" Hetzel influenced many of Verne's novels directly, especially in the first few years of their collaboration, for Verne was initially so happy to find a publisher that he agreed to almost all of the changes Hetzel suggested. For example, when Hetzel disapproved of

14338-479: The prolific librettist Michel Carré . To celebrate his employment at the Théâtre Lyrique, Verne joined with ten friends to found a bachelors' dining club, the Onze-sans-femme ( Eleven Bachelors ). For some time, Verne's father pressed him to abandon his writing and begin a business as a lawyer. However, Verne argued in his letters that he could only find success in literature. The pressure to plan for

14472-474: The propeller has been tested on many terrestrial vehicles, including the Schienenzeppelin train and numerous cars. In modern times, propellers are most prevalent on watercraft and aircraft, as well as some amphibious vehicles such as hovercraft and ground-effect vehicles . Intuitively, propellers cannot work in space as there is no working fluid; however, some sources have suggested that since space

14606-402: The protagonist appeared in the manga Atomic Power Android ( 原子力人造人間 , Genshi Ryoku Jinzō Ningen ) in 1948. The manga and anime Tetsujin 28-Go , introduced in 1956, featured a robot, Tetsujin, that was controlled externally by an operator by remote control. The manga and anime Astro Boy , introduced in 1952, with its humanoid robot protagonist, was a key influence on the development of

14740-510: The publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel , and submitted to him the manuscript of his developing novel, then called Voyage en Ballon . Hetzel, already the publisher of Honoré de Balzac , George Sand , Victor Hugo , and other well-known authors, had long been planning to launch a high-quality family magazine in which entertaining fiction would combine with scientific education. He saw Verne, with his demonstrated inclination toward scrupulously researched adventure stories, as an ideal contributor for such

14874-463: The rate of deceleration or where the brakes have failed, several mechanisms can be used to stop a vehicle. Cars and rolling stock usually have hand brakes that, while designed to secure an already parked vehicle, can provide limited braking should the primary brakes fail. A secondary procedure called forward-slip is sometimes used to slow airplanes by flying at an angle, causing more drag. Motor vehicle and trailer categories are defined according to

15008-409: The recurring theme to a "Herminie complex". The incident also led Verne to bear a grudge against his birthplace and Nantes society, which he criticized in his poem La sixième ville de France ( The Sixth City of France ). In July 1848, Verne left Nantes again for Paris, where his father intended him to finish law studies and take up law as a profession. He obtained permission from his father to rent

15142-460: The salons, Verne diligently pursued his law studies and graduated with a licence en droit in January 1851. Thanks to his visits to salons, Verne came into contact in 1849 with Alexandre Dumas through the mutual acquaintance of a celebrated chirologist of the time, the Chevalier d'Arpentigny. Verne became close friends with Dumas' son, Alexandre Dumas fils , and showed him a manuscript for

15276-477: The same year, 1836, Pierre Verne bought a vacation house at 29 Rue des Réformés in the village of Chantenay (now part of Nantes) on the Loire. In his brief memoir Souvenirs d'enfance et de jeunesse ( Memories of Childhood and Youth , 1890), Verne recalled a deep fascination with the river and with the many merchant vessels navigating it. He also took vacations at Brains , in the house of his uncle Prudent Allotte,

15410-479: The same year, Verne was required to enlist in the French army, but the sortition process spared him, to his great relief. He wrote to his father: "You should already know, dear papa, what I think of the military life, and of these domestic servants in livery. ... You have to abandon all dignity to perform such functions." Verne's strong antiwar sentiments, to the dismay of his father, would remain steadfast throughout his life. Though writing profusely and frequenting

15544-754: The seminary in disparaging terms. From 1844 to 1846, Verne and his brother were enrolled in the Lycée Royal (now the Lycée Georges-Clemenceau ) in Nantes. After finishing classes in rhetoric and philosophy, he took the baccalauréat at Rennes and received the grade "Good Enough" on 29 July 1846. By 1847, when Verne was 19, he had taken seriously to writing long works in the style of Victor Hugo , beginning Un prêtre en 1839 and seeing two verse tragedies, Alexandre VI and La Conspiration des poudres ( The Gunpowder Plot ), to completion. However, his father took it for granted that Verne, being

15678-565: The shape of a cone or bell , some unorthodox designs have been created such as the aerospike . Some nozzles are intangible, such as the electromagnetic field nozzle of a vectored ion thruster. Continuous track is sometimes used instead of wheels to power land vehicles. Continuous track has the advantages of a larger contact area, easy repairs on small damage, and high maneuverability. Examples of vehicles using continuous tracks are tanks, snowmobiles and excavators. Two continuous tracks used together allow for steering. The largest land vehicle in

15812-643: The stage adaptations of Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours (1874) and Michel Strogoff (1876), which he wrote with Adolphe d'Ennery . In 1867, Verne bought a small boat, the Saint-Michel , which he successively replaced with the Saint-Michel II and the Saint-Michel III as his financial situation improved. On board the Saint-Michel III , he sailed around Europe. After his first novel, most of his stories were first serialised in

15946-462: The storing medium's energy density and power density are sufficient to meet the vehicle's needs. Human power is a simple source of energy that requires nothing more than humans. Despite the fact that humans cannot exceed 500 W (0.67 hp) for meaningful amounts of time, the land speed record for human-powered vehicles (unpaced) is 133 km/h (83 mph), as of 2009 on a recumbent bicycle . The energy source used to power vehicles

16080-617: The supplement A Gazetinha from the newspaper A Gazeta ; Kimball Kinnison's battle suit in E. E. "Doc" Smith's Lensman novel Galactic Patrol (1950); the French animated film The King and the Mockingbird (first released 1952), and Robert Heinlein 's waldo in his 1942 short story, " Waldo " and the Mobile Infantry battle suits in Heinlein's Starship Troopers (1958). A transforming mech can transform between

16214-440: The technology has been limited by overheating and interference issues. Aside from landing gear brakes, most large aircraft have other ways of decelerating. In aircraft, air brakes are aerodynamic surfaces that provide braking force by increasing the frontal cross section, thus increasing the increasing the aerodynamic drag of the aircraft. These are usually implemented as flaps that oppose air flow when extended and are flush with

16348-561: The theoretical usefulness of such a device, combining a tank's resilience and firepower with infantry's ability to cross unstable terrain and a high degree of customization. In some continuities, special scenarios are constructed to make mecha more viable than current-day status. For example, in Gundam the fictional Minovsky particle inhibits the use of radar, making long-range ballistic strikes impractical, thus favouring relatively close-range warfare of Mobile Suits. However, some stories, such as

16482-544: The use of a pulse jet was the V-1 flying bomb . Pulse jets are still occasionally used in amateur experiments. With the advent of modern technology, the pulse detonation engine has become practical and was successfully tested on a Rutan VariEze . While the pulse detonation engine is much more efficient than the pulse jet and even turbine engines, it still suffers from extreme noise and vibration levels. Ramjets also have few moving parts, but they only work at high speed, so their use

16616-468: The world, the Bagger 293 , is propelled by continuous tracks. Propellers (as well as screws, fans and rotors) are used to move through a fluid. Propellers have been used as toys since ancient times; however, it was Leonardo da Vinci who devised what was one of the earliest propeller driven vehicles, the "aerial-screw". In 1661, Toogood & Hays adopted the screw for use as a ship propeller. Since then,

16750-660: The world. At least 500 million Chinese Flying Pigeon bicycles have been made, more than any other single model of vehicle. The most-produced model of motor vehicle is the Honda Super Cub motorcycle, having sold 60 million units in 2008. The most-produced car model is the Toyota Corolla , with at least 35 million made by 2010. The most common fixed-wing airplane is the Cessna 172 , with about 44,000 having been made as of 2017. The Soviet Mil Mi-8 , at 17,000,

16884-630: The world. The personification of this popularity can be seen as 1:1-sized Mazinger Z , Tetsujin, and Gundam statues built across the world. Mecha are often featured in computer and console video games . Because of their size and fictional power, mecha are quite popular subjects for games, both tabletop and electronic. They have been featured in video games since the 1980s, particularly in vehicular combat and shooter games , including Sesame Japan's side-scrolling shooter game Vastar in 1983, various Gundam games such as Mobile Suit Gundam: Last Shooting in 1984 and Z-Gundam: Hot Scramble in 1986,

17018-635: Was a Soviet-designed screw-propelled vehicle designed to retrieve cosmonauts from the Siberian wilderness. All or almost all of the useful energy produced by the engine is usually dissipated as friction; so minimizing frictional losses is very important in many vehicles. The main sources of friction are rolling friction and fluid drag (air drag or water drag). Wheels have low bearing friction, and pneumatic tires give low rolling friction. Steel wheels on steel tracks are lower still. Aerodynamic drag can be reduced by streamlined design features. Friction

17152-656: Was a natural for the job. Verne first offered him a short historical adventure story , The First Ships of the Mexican Navy , written in the style of James Fenimore Cooper , whose novels had deeply influenced him. Pitre-Chevalier published it in July 1851, and in the same year published a second short story by Verne, A Voyage in a Balloon (August 1851). The latter story, with its combination of adventurous narrative, travel themes, and detailed historical research, would later be described by Verne as "the first indication of

17286-493: Was born the same year. Three sisters, Anne "Anna" (1836), Mathilde (1839), and Marie (1842), followed. In 1834, at the age of six, Verne was sent to boarding school at 5 Place du Bouffay in Nantes. The teacher, Madame Sambin, was the widow of a naval captain who had disappeared some 30 years before. Madame Sambin often told the students that her husband was a shipwrecked castaway and that he would eventually return like Robinson Crusoe from his desert island paradise. The theme of

17420-515: Was finally published in 1994.) The relationship between publisher and writer changed significantly around 1869 when Verne and Hetzel were brought into conflict over the manuscript for Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas . Verne had initially conceived of the submariner Captain Nemo as a Polish scientist whose acts of vengeance were directed against the Russians who had killed his family during

17554-416: Was in this period that Verne met the illustrious geographer and explorer Jacques Arago , who continued to travel extensively despite his blindness (he had lost his sight completely in 1837). The two men became good friends, and Arago's innovative and witty accounts of his travels led Verne toward a newly developing genre of literature: that of travel writing . In 1852, two new pieces from Verne appeared in

17688-515: Was made a knight of France's Legion of Honour on 9 April 1870, and subsequently promoted in Legion of Honour rank to Officer on 19 July 1892. On 24 March 1905, while ill with chronic diabetes and complications from a stroke which paralyzed his right side, Verne died at his home in Amiens , 44 Boulevard Longueville (now Boulevard Jules-Verne). His son, Michel Verne, oversaw the publication of

17822-662: Was of little practical use. In 1817, The Laufmaschine ("running machine"), invented by the German Baron Karl von Drais , became the first human means of transport to make use of the two-wheeler principle . It is regarded as the forerunner of the modern bicycle (and motorcycle). In 1885, Karl Benz built (and subsequently patented) the Benz Patent-Motorwagen , the first automobile, powered by his own four-stroke cycle gasoline engine . In 1885, Otto Lilienthal began experimental gliding and achieved

17956-482: Was published in book form in 1866, Hetzel publicly announced his literary and educational ambitions for Verne's novels by saying in a preface that Verne's works would form a novel sequence called the Voyages extraordinaires ( Extraordinary Voyages or Extraordinary Journeys ), and that Verne's aim was "to outline all the geographical, geological, physical, and astronomical knowledge amassed by modern science and to recount, in an entertaining and picturesque format that

#933066