Growing up as a child in Mumbai, British structural engineer Roma Agrawal was baffled by the mind boggling innards of her family television set that had just been taken apart to repair black lines appearing on the screen. Her curiosity to small parts that made the big machines would later drive her to a degree in physics to understand the building blocks of the universe. Agrawal, who worked for six years as a structural engineer on the project of the 95-storey-high The Shard in London, the tallest tower in Western Europe, continued to be fascinated by how machines, buildings and everyday objects came to be. In the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, as she was locked inside her home, Agrawal revisited the ballpoint pen, blender, breast pump, speaker phone, protective mask, lens and ethernet socket to see their own innards made up of springs, screws, fibres and magnets. Thinking about even more complex objects like skyscrapers and satellites, electrical grids and factories, she chose seven objects as foundational innovations that form the basis of the modern world: the nail, wheel, spring, magnet, lens, string, and pump.
According to Agrawal, small and sometimes hidden, each of these elements is an extraordinary feat of engineering with fascinating stories that go back hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Though the oldest nails were in bronze dating back to 3,400 BC, the discovery of making iron by metal workers in India and Sri Lanka around 1,300 BC gave birth to iron nails. The wheel, considered the best invention ever, was not invented to move us, but for pottery. The powerful bow, a key feature of 12th century Mongol emperor Genghis Khan's military tactics, was a type of spring. Part of the UK delegation to the 47th International Kolkata Book Fair (January 18-31) where the UK is the theme country this year to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the British Council in India, Agrawal talks to Moneycontrol about small inventions and her new book about them called Nuts and Bolts: Seven Small Inventions That Changed the World (in a Big Way). Edited excerpts:
What do inventions small in nature tell us about the alchemy of design in human beings and society?
Humans are endlessly curious and innovative, as small inventions show us. When we see a need to do something, or do something better, we play around, make stuff, break stuff, until we create something that makes our lives a little easier. Today, our engineering and technology seem so complex, so I felt it was important to go back to the roots of our inventions and look in depth at the small elements, which are themselves wonders of engineering, without which the more complex machines couldn’t exist.
How important was it to trace the inventions back to ordinary individuals?
Engineering is a human endeavour. While studying, we usually focus on the maths and physics of the subject, but without human need, without human inventors, none of this could exist. The people that created our world are from countries globally, and it was important to me to showcase pioneers from the Global South, and women, who are often overlooked in the West.
How did you go about writing the book — was there a longlist of small inventions that became a shortlist?
I mentally, and sometimes physically, deconstructed the objects I could see around me, whether that’s a pen, blender, car, tunnel, skyscraper, and kept asking myself, what are the elements without which this couldn’t exist? I had a longlist. But I was able to group them up — so screws and bolts, for example, because a part of the nail chapter — and ultimately decided on seven which all carry out different fundamental functions: the nail, wheel, spring, magnet, lens, string, and pump.
You write about the wheel and pottery in India, linking it with the country's freedom struggle. Did you grow up in India hearing stories that influenced your interest in inventions and engineering?
I grew up in a family where engineering, maths and science featured regularly. My sister and I played with loads of construction toys. I think growing up in India showed me firsthand how engineering can benefit us. I remember watching lots of roadworks in Mumbai, but then we had a great road, or a bridge being built to help ease traffic (even a little).
Where does India's own makeshift engineering, jugaad, fit in the social history of innovation?
It’s fantastic. Such a deep history of making things work and fixing things which I think we need to embrace in the developed, and therefore most waste-intensive countries. We need to step away from this idea that complex technology is needed to solve problems and look back at the basics. We should all try some jugaad for ourselves.
Is there a hidden message in the book, about how small we are in this world as the society is engaged in a race for modern technologies?
The message I want to get across is that engineering is a human endeavour, it shapes how we live and will shape how we move forward into our future. It is in our hands to, today, set what that path looks like, but to do this, we need to engage in engineering and the social impact it creates. We need to then work to create a sustainable and equitable way forward.
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