To get us to the future, the Victorians created a new way of ordering and transforming nature, built on grand designs and the mass-mobilisation of the resources of Empire - and revolutionised science in the process.

In this rich and absorbing book, distinguished historian of science Iwan Rhys Morus tells the story of how this future was made. From Charles Babbage's dream of mechanising mathematics to Isambard Kingdom Brunel's tunnel beneath the Thames, from George Cayley's fantasies of powered flight to Nikola Tesla's visions of an electrical world, it is a story of towering personalities, clashing ambitions, furious rivalries and conflicting cultures - a rich tapestry of remarkable lives that transformed the world beyond recognition and ultimately took us to the Moon.