Herbert George Wells was an English writer. He is now best remembered for his science fiction novels and is often called a "father of science fiction", along with Jules Verne and Hugo Gernsback. Wells's earliest specialised training was in biology, and his thinking on ethical matters took place in a specifically and fundamentally Darwinian context. The World Set Free is a remarkable example of how science and science fiction can interact with and build upon each other. This chilling, futuristic novel, written in 1913 and first published the following year, was incredibly prophetic on a major scale. The novel was originally published as a serial in three parts: A Trap to Catch the Sun, The Last War in the World and The World Set Free. It is presented as a history of the important events of the 20th century, jumping back and forth amongst narratives of different eyewitnesses and major players in those events. The World Set Free tells of world war and the advent of nuclear weapons. Scientists of the time were well aware that the slow natural radioactive decay of elements like radium continues for thousands of years, and that while the rate of energy release is negligible, the total amount released is huge. Wells's knowledge of atomic physics came from reading William Ramsay, Ernest Rutherford, and Frederick Soddy; the last discovered the disintegration of uranium. You can listen online to free English audiobook “The World Set Free” by H. G. Wells on our website.
