Herbert George Wells, or "H.G. Wells" as he became known, was born on September 21, 1866, in Bromley, England, and died in London at the age of 79 on August 13, 1946. He was the son of a small shopkeeper. As a writer, Wells was extremely versatile and produced a vast literary output spanning numerous genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics, social commentary, and primarily science fiction. He tackled various themes such as time travel, alien invasion, biological manipulation, total war, and invisibility, among others, which would later be explored by other authors in the genre. So much so that, alongside Jules Verne and Hugo Gernsback, Wells has been referred to as "The Father of Science Fiction."