Voltaire was a great French poet, philosopher, and dramatist who was an outspoken critic of political and religious intolerance. In his satirical novel Micromegas, Voltaire (pseudonym of François-Marie Arouet) shrugged off the religious dogma of his time and speculated freely and humorously on the subject of extraterrestrial life. Also significant in the history of science fiction is Voltaire's picturesque satire Candide (1759), in which the utopian Eldorado is described.