Rules out Dyson then, as not much call for vacuum cleaners in most of the world and similarly anyone automotive as the majority of the world do not use motor vehicles. The inventor(s) of the ubiquitous mobile phone? Trevor Baylis for his wind-up technology? Mansukhbhai Prajapati for his low-tech clay fridge?
Geoff Buck, Newton Abbot
I would vote for the thousands of people, or representatives thereof, responsible for shrinking the digital camera to a size where it is now possible to carry around a device, at all times, capable of capturing and bearing witness to the most significant events in lives around the world.
Alastair Miles, Yate, South Gloucestershire
I would vote for Elon Musk, chief executive of Tesla, because he has led the car industry away from internal combustion engine (ICE) power to plug-in electric vehicles. His Tesla Model S is the best car ever tested by product review group Consumer Reports and had a 99/100 score when reviewed by its customers. BMW, Nissan, GM and others are following his lead. Electric cars provide equivalent MPGs two to three times better than ICEs and can use off-peak renewables. A few years early to provide recognition perhaps? I think the ground-breaking innovation should be recognised today for what it is.
Stuart Kirby, Derby
I helped design a toaster that only burnt the bread if you asked it to. Before it reached the market the company (a brand leader) was asset stripped and dumped. I vote for the engineers that have worked on world-beating projects scrapped for short-term financial or political gain.
Martin Roberts-Jones, Eastleigh, Hampshire
I would vote for the engineers who are developing solar energy systems to be cheap and reliable suppliers of electrical power. With electricity derived from sustainable sources, all humanity should have the means to produce food, keep warm (or cool), stay healthy, travel and communicate without significant detriment to our ability to breathe.
Geoff Miles, Poole, Dorset
Keith Walton Tantlinger – the American engineer responsible for development of the shipping container.
Rob English, Camberley, Surrey
I hate to say it but maybe the team behind the Google Glass technology of wearable computers, which will probably be the big thing to come and overtake the huge advances elsewhere. They will make our working lives unbearably stressful but should cut down on travel and be the next revolution in communications. My vote though goes to Lord Chris Smith and his team at the Environment Agency who through total inaction have highlighted the very real need to put a great focus on water management in the UK and hopefully will start a real debate across the rest of the world.
Mike Stothard, Kingston
The person, or company, that perfects 3D printers that can work with metal.
Alan Constable, Melbourne, Australia
I would go for James Dyson. Controversial, I know, but Dyson has helped make engineering fashionable again by taking what were previously mundane products – vacuum cleaners, hand dryers etc – and turning them into items that look good and work well. Plus he employs hundreds of engineers and technicians in the UK.
Jim Arnold, Birmingham
I have been skiing in Austria this week and have failed to dry my hands using any of the dryers, until I found a cafe with a Dyson Airblade! It may not seem that global, but it is hard to know what future impact engineers working today will make, so I nominate James Dyson.
Jeff Bulled, Lidlington,
Bedfordshire
Sir Charles Parsons. Without the steam turbine, the generation of electricity with the necessary consistency and scale which we take for granted today would have been impossible. He is one of our unsung engineering giants.
David Odling, Altrincham, Cheshire
Alexander Graham Bell as the inventor of the phone which has made the world a much smaller place for communication.
Keith Dunnett, Westhill, Aberdeenshire
Sir Frank Whittle. Every time I travel by plane, I sit back and marvel at the wonders of flight. The £1 million prize money could be used to fund a research or training facility for aerospace technologies, making engines cleaner and greener for the future.
Tony Peterson, Manchester
I think it should go to engineers in the medical sector. We have a comfortable standard of living in the UK, but that’s not the case in huge parts of the world. Behind the scenes, engineers are working hard to develop drug delivery technologies and biomedical devices that will benefit millions of people. These are the sorts of activities that deserve recognition.
John Andrews, Suffolk