Art Inspired by Engineering

A series of unique images, specially created to celebrate some of the UK’s greatest innovations, all winners of the Royal Academy of Engineering MacRobert Award.

The images are an artist's impression of the thought process that enabled the engineers to make these world-leading breakthroughs and are not intended to explain the innovation in a technical sense.

The MacRobert Award is the most prestigious award for the UK engineering profession. 

Over the years, winners have included the engineers behind a huge variety of pioneering products, from catalytic converters and the roof of the Millennium Dome to intelligent prosthetic limbs and the Raspberry Pi microcomputer. 

She was active in the research community and tried to attend as many scientific meetings as she could and was never deterred by the custom that women were not allowed to join learned societies at the time.

She became a Fellow of the Geological Society of Stockholm before becoming one of the first female Fellows elected to the Geological Society of London in 1919. 

Like her mother, she was a suffragette, and often attended events and meetings supporting the movement.

Sadly, Lady MacRobert lost all three of her sons in aviation accidents, two within five weeks of each other during World War II. In response to these tragedies, she donated £25,000 to the RAF.

Between 1943 and 1950, Lady MacRobert established a series of trusts and The MacRobert Trust continues its work today, supporting charitable causes. 

In 1967 the Board of the Trust was looking for new ways to distribute its charitable funds and established the MacRobert Award for Engineering. 

There was no similar prize for engineering anywhere in the world, and at the time, the £25,000 award was more than the Nobel Prize (it was doubled to £50,000 in 1993).