This book explores the relationship between scientific ideas, technology, government, international and domestic politics, as demonstrated by, among other things, the atomic bomb and atomic power. Giving examples from the last 150 years, it looks at state endowment of geological and astronomical surveys in Victorian Britain, the founding of the British Museum (Natural History), the military importance of science during the First World War, international patronage of science, the birth of the National Health Service, the Channel Tunnel, radiation protection, nuclear power in the United States and the Soviet Union, and the public history movement. Nicolaas A. Rupke is the author of "The Great Chain of History", a biography of William Buckland, and editor of "Vivisection in Historical Perspective".