Name a technology that is all around us, underpins our modern way of living but is hardly recognised for its contribution. How about the magnet?
The Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering hopes our awareness and appreciation will be raised by making Masato Sagawa its 2022 laureate.
The Japanese scientist invented the neodymium-iron-boron (Nd-Fe-B) magnet.
This is the strongest permanent magnet in wide-scale use today, found in everything from cars to computers.
Nd-Fe-B is one of those indispensable materials, without which everyday life would be a lot less efficient.
And the magnet's centrality is only going to increase as the green revolution takes hold. That's because the material will be at the operational heart of many renewables systems, such as wind turbines.