An asortment of domestic and industrial items.

Various items demonstrating a range of different materials doing jobs for which their physical properties make them particularly suitable. Clockwise from the top: a bronze razor from the 14th century BC; a compact disc; a section of Atlantic telegraph cable laid in 1924; goggles made of safety glas which do not splinter when cracked, and a denture. These items underline the important part which an understanding of materials has played in the development of the modern world.