H.G. Wells was born in Bromley, Kent in 1866. After working as a draper's apprentice and pupil-teacher, he won a scholarship to the Normal School of Science in 1884, studying under T.H. Huxley. He was awarded a first-class honours degree in biology and resumed teaching, but was forced to retire after suffering injury. The Time Machine launched his literary career in 1895, and Wells would publish more than a hundred books, including novels, histories, essays and programmes for world regeneration before his death in 1946.