Robur the Conqueror, published in 1886 by Jules Verne, follows the mysterious engineer Robur, who disrupts a meeting of the Weldon Institute, a Philadelphia club of balloon enthusiasts devoted to lighter-than-air flight. Declaring that the future belongs to heavier-than-air machines, Robur kidnaps the institute's president, Uncle Prudent, and his secretary Phil Evans, carrying them aboard his remarkable flying craft, the Albatross—a multi-rotored vessel driven by powerful electric engines. As the captives journey across oceans and continents aboard this extraordinary machine, Verne explores themes of technological progress, human skepticism, and the conflict between visionary invention and conservative resistance.
