Inventors

About the book

Meet the masterminds behind the greatest inventions in history with this nonfiction book for kids aged 7 to 9.

Step into Leonardo da Vinci's workshop, relax on board Hideo Shima's speedy bullet train, and join movie star Hedy Lamarr to bounce ideas around in between takes. Inventors looks at the towering achievements of more than 50 inventors in great detail. The stories are as unusual as they are unique. From Mr. Kellogg, who accidentally created cornflakes after leaving grains boiling for too long, to the ancient Turkish polymath Ismail al-Jazari, who decided the best way to power a clock was with a model elephant, to Sarah E. Goode's fold-up bed space-saving solution, the inventors of this book have all used tons of creativity to find ways to improve our world. These groundbreaking inventions include the very earliest discoveries to modern-day breakthroughs in science, food, transportation, technology, toys, and more.

Each page is packed with jaw-dropping facts, with every inventor's achievements written as a story. Beautiful illustrations by Jessamy Hawke bring the inventor's stories to life, and fantastic photography highlights the detail of their designs. With incredible hand-painted cross-sections revealing the intricacies of a robotic arm, the first plane, and the printing press, young readers will marvel at being able to see close-up how these amazing machines work. The inventors come from all walks of life and parts of the world, making this the perfect book for every budding inventor. 

What did the judges think?

Volcanologist and Royal Society Fellow Professor Katharine Cashman said: "This book excelled in showing the diversity of scientists and inventors and in highlighting a wide range of both inventions and inventors."

About the author and illustrator

Lord Winston is Professor of Science and Society and Emeritus Professor of Fertility Studies at Imperial College London. In the 1970s he developed gynaecological surgical techniques that improved fertility treatments. He later pioneered new treatments to improve in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and developed pre-implantation diagnosis. This allowed embryos to be screened for genetic diseases and has allowed parents carrying faulty genes to have children free of illnesses such as cystic fibrosis. He now runs a research programme at the Institute of Reproductive and Developmental Biology at Imperial College that aims to improve human transplantation. Robert Winston has over 300 scientific publications about human reproduction and the early stages of pregnancy. Robert Winston is also Chairman of the Genesis Research Trust – a charity which raised over £13 million to establish the Institute of Reproductive and Developmental Biology and which now funds high quality research into women’s health and babies.

Jessamy Hawke is a UK-based illustrator and landscape artist, working in watercolour and gouache. She is interested in connecting drawing with poetry and literature, as well as using illustration to document her experience of a landscape. Her paintings express a sense of place through line, texture, and colour, drawing on the British countryside. From patterns of fields, trees, and hedgerows, to the unique rock formations along the coast and in the mountains. She hopes to engage the viewer with the landscape as she experiences it, basing much of her work on drawing and painting on location. Jessamy is the illustrator for two children's non-fiction books published by DK: 'Explorers' written by Nellie Huang and 'Inventors' written by Robert Winston.