BEFORE THERE WAS Matt Damon in the film adaptation of The Martian, there was Cyrus Harding in Jules Verne’s novel The Mysterious Island: a hero in the guise of an engineer. Stranded on a rocky outcrop in the ocean off the east coast of Australia, a century before Matt Damon was even born, Harding immediately sets out to ensure survival by putting into practice Damon’s later commitment to ‘science the shit out of this’. Once the beer is brewed, the gunpowder manufactured, the hydraulic sawmill in operation and an electric telegraph installed, there remains only one thing for Harding to do: lecture his companions in scientific principles and deliver TED-worthy talks on the future of humanity and its burgeoning energy needs.

Challenged to suggest an alternative to the coal that will ‘someday…be entirely consumed’, Harding’s suggestion is water.