Engineering
50+2 Engineering Moments That Made Humanity Rethink What Was Possible.
Engineering transforms accumulated knowledge into systems that cross distances, control forces, move energy, communicate, build cities and explore environments.
A global sequence centred on teams, institutions, workers, infrastructure and the practical breakthroughs that expanded what society could do.
The editorial map
52 moments · 12 lenses
01 / 52
01 / 52 · Early Engineering & Water
Neolithic era onward
Ancient irrigation systems
- Period
- Neolithic era onward
- Place
- Multiple river civilizations
02 / 52 · Early Engineering & Water
1st millennium BCE onward
Qanats
- Period
- 1st millennium BCE onward
- Place
- Iran and wider arid regions
03 / 52 · Early Engineering & Water
3rd century BCE onward
Roman aqueduct networks
- Period
- 3rd century BCE onward
- Place
- Roman world
04 / 52 · Early Engineering & Water
3rd century BCE
Dujiangyan irrigation system
- Period
- 3rd century BCE
- Place
- Sichuan, China
05 / 52 · Early Engineering & Water
5th century BCE–7th century CE onward
The Grand Canal of China
- Period
- 5th century BCE–7th century CE onward
- Place
- China
06 / 52 · Roads, Bridges & Civil Infrastructure
3rd century BCE onward
Roman road engineering
- Period
- 3rd century BCE onward
- Place
- Roman world
07 / 52 · Roads, Bridges & Civil Infrastructure
15th–16th centuries
Inca road system
- Period
- 15th–16th centuries
- Place
- Andes
08 / 52 · Roads, Bridges & Civil Infrastructure
1779
Iron Bridge
- Period
- 1779
- Place
- Shropshire, Britain
09 / 52 · Roads, Bridges & Civil Infrastructure
1869–1883
The Brooklyn Bridge
- Period
- 1869–1883
- Place
- New York
10 / 52 · Roads, Bridges & Civil Infrastructure
1881–1914
The Panama Canal
- Period
- 1881–1914
- Place
- Panama
11 / 52 · Roads, Bridges & Civil Infrastructure
19th–20th centuries
Modern suspension bridges
- Period
- 19th–20th centuries
- Place
- Global
12 / 52 · Mechanical Power
3rd century BCE
Archimedean machines
- Period
- 3rd century BCE
- Place
- Hellenistic Mediterranean
13 / 52 · Mechanical Power
Antiquity–medieval period
Ancient Chinese mechanical engineering
- Period
- Antiquity–medieval period
- Place
- China
14 / 52 · Mechanical Power
13th–14th centuries
The mechanical clock
- Period
- 13th–14th centuries
- Place
- Europe
15 / 52 · Mechanical Power
15th century
Brunelleschi’s dome machinery
- Period
- 15th century
- Place
- Florence
16 / 52 · Industrial Revolution
1760s–1770s
Watt’s improved steam engine
- Period
- 1760s–1770s
- Place
- Britain
17 / 52 · Industrial Revolution
18th century
Industrial spinning machinery
- Period
- 18th century
- Place
- Britain
18 / 52 · Industrial Revolution
19th century
Railway engineering
- Period
- 19th century
- Place
- Global
19 / 52 · Industrial Revolution
1850s
The Bessemer process
- Period
- 1850s
- Place
- Britain
20 / 52 · Industrial Revolution
1850s onward
The safety elevator
- Period
- 1850s onward
- Place
- United States
21 / 52 · Electricity & Electromagnetism
1831
Faraday’s electromagnetic induction
- Period
- 1831
- Place
- Britain
22 / 52 · Electricity & Electromagnetism
1860s
Maxwell’s electromagnetic framework
- Period
- 1860s
- Place
- Britain
23 / 52 · Electricity & Electromagnetism
1880s onward
Central electrical generation and distribution
- Period
- 1880s onward
- Place
- Multiple countries
24 / 52 · Electricity & Electromagnetism
1880s–1890s
Alternating-current power systems
- Period
- 1880s–1890s
- Place
- Europe and United States
25 / 52 · Electricity & Electromagnetism
late 19th century onward
Large-scale hydroelectric power
- Period
- late 19th century onward
- Place
- Global
26 / 52 · Transport & Flight
19th century
The internal-combustion engine
- Period
- 19th century
- Place
- Europe
27 / 52 · Transport & Flight
early 20th century
Automobile mass production
- Period
- early 20th century
- Place
- United States and beyond
28 / 52 · Transport & Flight
1903
Powered controlled flight
- Period
- 1903
- Place
- North Carolina
29 / 52 · Transport & Flight
1930s–1940s
Jet propulsion
- Period
- 1930s–1940s
- Place
- Britain and Germany
30 / 52 · Transport & Flight
1950s onward
Container shipping
- Period
- 1950s onward
- Place
- Global
31 / 52 · Communication & Information
1830s–1840s
The electric telegraph
- Period
- 1830s–1840s
- Place
- Europe and United States
32 / 52 · Communication & Information
1870s
The telephone
- Period
- 1870s
- Place
- Multiple inventors and institutions
33 / 52 · Communication & Information
1890s–early 20th century
Radio engineering
- Period
- 1890s–early 20th century
- Place
- Multiple countries
34 / 52 · Communication & Information
1930s–1940s
Radar
- Period
- 1930s–1940s
- Place
- International development
35 / 52 · Communication & Information
1980s onward
Transoceanic fibre-optic cables
- Period
- 1980s onward
- Place
- Global
36 / 52 · Medicine & Bioengineering
1895 onward
Medical imaging systems
- Period
- 1895 onward
- Place
- Global
37 / 52 · Medicine & Bioengineering
1950s
The heart–lung machine
- Period
- 1950s
- Place
- United States
38 / 52 · Medicine & Bioengineering
1950s–1960s
Implantable cardiac pacemakers
- Period
- 1950s–1960s
- Place
- Multiple countries
39 / 52 · Medicine & Bioengineering
2010s
CRISPR genome-editing systems
- Period
- 2010s
- Place
- International research teams
40 / 52 · Medicine & Bioengineering
decades of research; deployed at scale in 2020
mRNA vaccine delivery platforms
- Period
- decades of research; deployed at scale in 2020
- Place
- International
41 / 52 · Space Engineering
1957 onward
Satellite engineering
- Period
- 1957 onward
- Place
- Global
42 / 52 · Space Engineering
1960s
Apollo guidance and systems engineering
- Period
- 1960s
- Place
- United States
43 / 52 · Space Engineering
1970s–1990s
Global Positioning System
- Period
- 1970s–1990s
- Place
- United States / global use
44 / 52 · Space Engineering
21st century
Reusable orbital-class rockets
- Period
- 21st century
- Place
- Multiple organizations
45 / 52 · Computing & Digital Infrastructure
1958–1959
The integrated circuit
- Period
- 1958–1959
- Place
- United States
46 / 52 · Computing & Digital Infrastructure
1960s–1970s
ARPANET and packet-switched networking
- Period
- 1960s–1970s
- Place
- United States
47 / 52 · Computing & Digital Infrastructure
1989–1993
The World Wide Web’s open infrastructure
- Period
- 1989–1993
- Place
- CERN / global
48 / 52 · Computing & Digital Infrastructure
21st century
Cloud-scale computing infrastructure
- Period
- 21st century
- Place
- Global
49 / 52 · Environmental & Planetary Engineering
late 20th century onward
Modern wind-turbine engineering
- Period
- late 20th century onward
- Place
- Global
50 / 52 · Environmental & Planetary Engineering
21st century
Photovoltaic power at grid scale
- Period
- 21st century
- Place
- Global
51 / 52 · Engineering the Future
20th–21st centuries
Robotics and collaborative automation
- Period
- 20th–21st centuries
- Place
- Global
52 / 52 · Engineering the Future
21st century
Low-carbon materials and carbon removal systems
- Period
- 21st century
- Place
- Global