Seven inventions that changed the world

Smartphones, skyscrapers, spacecraft. Modern technology seems mind-bogglingly complex. But beneath the surface, it can be beautifully simple.

Award-winning engineer and broadcaster Roma Agrawal deconstructs our most complex feats of engineering into seven fundamental inventions: the nail, spring, wheel, lens, magnet, string and pump. Each of these objects is itself a wonder of design, the result of many iterations and refinements. Together, they have enabled humanity to see the invisible, build the spectacular, communicate across vast distances, and even escape our planet.

In this talk, Roma traces the surprising journeys of three of these inventions through the millennia, revealing how handmade Roman nails led to modern skyscrapers, how the potter’s wheel enabled space exploration, and how humble lenses helped her conceive a child against the odds.

She invites us to marvel at these small but perfectly formed inventions, and the ways they’ve shaped our society and our politics. Along the way, she shares stories of the remarkable, and often unknown, scientists and engineers who made them possible. The nuts and bolts that make up our world may be tiny, but they’ve changed our lives in huge ways.

Copies of Roma's latest book 'Nuts and Bolts - Seven Small Inventions that Changed the World (in a Big Way)', will be available to purchase after the talk.

Event type

This is a livestream event where the speaker and audience come together online.