The Engines of Engineering
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The Engines of Engineering The Ingenious Profession
What is Engineering?
From the moment your alarm clock wakes you up until you turn the lights out to sleep, You are Surrounded by Engineering
Alarm Clock (Electrical, Mechanical) Bathroom (Environmental, Chemical) Kitchen (Electrical, Mechanical, Chemical) Automobile (Mechanical, Petroleum, Electrical) Road (Civil, Mechanical, Electrical) And on and on….
What is Engineering?
There is hardly any Aspect of your Day which isn’t affected by Engineering Involved with
Safety Standards of Practice Protecting Society and Environment Making Life Easier and More Enjoyable
What is Engineering?
But… What is Engineering? Where Did it Start? Who Are Engineers? What Do They Do?
The Story is as old as Civilization….
The Ingeniator as Master Builder
The earliest people recognized as engineers were the craftsmen, architects and practical artists of the ancient world. Pyramid at Giza
Abu Simbal
These were the people who:
smeltered metals for tools and weapons Created the roads, the water conveyances and designed cities designed and built the great monuments of the classical world
The Ingeniator as Master Builder
They were the people who made life easier and better for people
Controlling water meant dependable crops and domestic supply for a stable society Building monuments meant permanence and order Step Pyramid at Sakkara and Irrigated Fields
The Ingeniator as Master Builder
Pont du Gard, France, 19 BCE
The Romans were well known for their construction projects which are large even by today’s standards.
In fact, the word “Engineer” comes from the Latin Ingeniator, “One who is Ingenious.”
The Ingeniator as Master Builder
But, the Master Builders of the ancient and medieval world built only on experience and practice. They did not understand the physical mechanics of the buildings or of the building materials. Bourges
Cologne
The Ingeniator as
Engineer
Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia defines Engineering as
“the application of scientific and technical knowledge to solve human problems. Engineers use imagination, judgment and reasoning to apply science, technology, mathematics, and practical experience. The result is the design, production, and operation of useful objects or processes.”
A scientist studies what is, whereas an engineer creates what never was
- Theodore Von Karman
The Ingeniator as Master Builder
Leonardo Da Vinci had the title Ingegnere Generale. One of his great contributions to knowledge was that he began to ask not just what works, but HOW. His notebooks and other writings led to a new understanding of the world and how it works.
The Great Revolutions: Scientific, Industrial and Engineering
Galileo Galilei is considered one of the founders of engineering and scientific studies for his work in “Two New Sciences” (1638). They were:
Mechanics of Materials Motion of Bodies
Drawing of a Cantilever Beam
The Great Revolutions: Industrial, Scientific and Engineering
The Birth of modern Engineering started with the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution began in England in the 1770’s and spread throughout the world. The development of technology was fueled by the changes in the military, society, agriculture, manufacturing and the economy.
The Great Revolutions: Industrial, Scientific and Engineering
Mining and Metallurgy started the Revolution. English land owners in the 16th and 17th centuries started fencing off the ancient feudal estates, forcing the peasant farmers off the land and starting the grazing of sheep. This provided people who became miners and employers for the mills and factories. As the mines grew larger, metallurgical processes developed new furnaces to refine ores, such as lead, copper and iron. By 1750, England was producing quality bar iron which was used in the manufacture of tools.
The Great Revolutions: Industrial, Scientific and Engineering
The Industrial Revolution was fueled by Coal. Shallow coal had been mined for centuries. Coal mines were able to dig deeper when they were dewatered using pumps driven by steam engines. James Watt (1736 - 1819) greatly improved the efficiency of the steam engine and made it useful in mining, manufacturing and transportation.
The Great Revolutions: Industrial, Scientific and Engineering
Steam engines were also mated with weaving looms to greatly speed the manufacture of cloth from British wool and American cotton. Newly devised chemical procedures (Led by Charles Tennant) enabled bleaching of the wool in days instead of the months required previously. Joseph-Marie Jacquard of Flanders developed a Loom which was controlled by punched cards. This allowed the looms to be automated and to make cloth of greater quality and quantity. The mills, mines and other factories hired great numbers of out-of-work farmers and concentrated them into cities to work in the factories.
The Great Revolutions: Industrial, Scientific and Engineering
Steel started to replace the traditional iron in the 1830’s, allowing larger and more elaborate equipment to be constructed. Transportation (roads, canals, railroads and steamships) encouraged movement of goods and people. Food could be transported farther and kept safe longer through refrigeration so that people could gather in cities.
The Great Revolutions: Industrial, Scientific and Engineering
Harrison’s Chronograph, largely completed in 1762, but made cheaper and in large numbers by the 1800’s, allowed mariners to determine where they were while at sea. During this time, up to about the 1850’s, the Industrial Revolution was being carried by the underlying Scientific and Engineering Revolutions.
Rise of Military Engineering
Parallel to the Industrial Revolution was the rise of Military Engineering. Areas included:
Military Strategy Transportation of Troops and Equipment on Land and Sea Housing and Sanitation for Troops General Protection of the Civilian Population
Rise of Military Engineering
Military Engineers were initially in charge of weapons (siege engines) and ordinance Many Countries had a Corps of Engineers:
France: 1716 - The Corps of Ponts et Chaussees England: 1717 – Corps of Engineers USA: 1775/1802 – Continental and US Corps of Engineers
Military Schools
These Corps of Engineers were supported by schools or academies:
England: 1741 – Royal Military Academy
(produce “good officers of artillery and perfect engineers”)
France: 1775 - L’Ecole des Ponts et Chaussees (“School of Bridges and Roads”) 1794 - École Polytechnique (Military/Civilian) USA: 1795/1802 West Point Military Academy (Recommended By Washington, Organized by Jefferson)
Growth of Engineering
It was this period of time when people started calling themselves Engineers (for example, John Smeaton (1724-1792), the first “Civil Engineer”). The people who worked with engines, machinery and their production became the Mechanical Engineers People involved with city growth, transportation and buildings became the Civil Engineers. Technical training in England was based on the Apprenticeship system, in which a person worked with a master for a minimum of seven years.
Dropping from the program could end a career. James Watt quit after one year and could not get work for several years after.
Training in France was Academic, through the L’Ecoles.
US Engineering Education
Sylvanus Thayer.
Graduate of Dartmouth (1807) and West Point (1808). In 1815, President Madison granted him $5,000 to attend the Ecole Polytechnique for two years. He also visited the Royal Military Academy and other schools of technology and military science. He shipped close to 1000 books to start the Academy Library On his return, he was named the Superintendent of the US Military Academy from 1817 and served until 1833.
US Engineering Education
From his experiences overseas, Thayer outlined a curriculum for the Military Academy
He developed a basic Civil Engineering for all officers that is still a core curriculum today. He required French, Ethics, Philosophy, Drawing …. And Ballroom Dancing (“Officer and a Gentleman”). Students had a daily recitation and grades were turned in to Superintendent Thayer every week. Classes were rearranged on a monthly basis, so all the top students were in the first class, the next group of students in the second class, etc. Their future appointments were based on class standing.
US Engineering Education
The first non-military engineering school in the United States was the Rensselaer School in 1824.
The initial degrees were granted after one year. The first Civil Engineering Degrees were awarded in 1835. In 1850, the degree was lengthened to 3 years and the School began a Polytechnical education like that of the Ecole Polytechnique. In 1861, the degree was lengthened again to 4 years.
The Second Industrial Revolution
Starting in the 1840’s, another great change occurred in technological world.
Electrical motors started to replace steam engines Electrical devices such as the telegraph and the telephone were being developed and constructed. As more chemical compounds were developed, there was greater need to manufacture them on a larger, continuous basis. Diseases such as Cholera were being associated with water supply and sanitation Expansion into the arid American west brought the opportunity to own land, but also required development of large irrigation and water supply systems.
The Second Industrial Revolution
As the problems and solutions grew more complex, the requirement to measure and reason grew as well
The ability to model the world, and to modify it required more training in the arts, sciences and mathematics. There needed to be more uniformity in educational background. There was more need to communicate between engineers to solve the larger (and smaller) problems. Ethical and Legal questions needed to be solved
The Growth of Professional Societies
Professional Societies developed from the need to share ideas and to insure quality in outcomes
Papers were written and disseminated to a broad audience. Recommendations for basic and advanced curriculum for schools to follow Development of Codes of Ethics for Societies Became Advocates for Reform and Change
The Growth of Professional Societies
The 1850 US Census listed 512 Civil Engineers. The American Society of Engineers and Architects was founded in 1852 in New York City by 12 prominent Engineers In 1867, it was renamed the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
It is the oldest professional engineering society in the United States It had 408 members in 1875, 133,000 today. Active in Education, Development of Standards
The Growth of Professional Societies
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) was founded in 1880
First Meeting had 80 engineers,
“Industrialists, educators, technical journalists, designers, shipbuilders, military engineers and inventors.”
85 Engineering Colleges in US in 1880, Most had M.E. degree Members developed Codes and Technical Standards,
First - Screw Threads, Best Known - Boiler Code
The Growth of Professional Societies
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) grew out of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE, founded in 1884) and the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE)
Thomas Edison and Elihu Thompson (founded General Electric) were two of the founding members.
Organization formed to standardize Power, Transmission and Electronics practice Today-365,000 Members, 27,000 Student Members.
The Growth of Professional Societies
The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) was formed in 1908.
19 Founders 40,000 Current Members
Established Education Curriculums and Standards Provided Technical Publications Many Branches around the world
The Growth of Professional Societies
The American Institute of Mining Engineers (AIME) was founded in 1871 in Pennsylvania, USA, to advance the production of metals, minerals, and energy resources through the application of engineering. In 1913, a standing committee on oil and gas was created within AIME and proved to be the genesis of SPE. The Oil and Gas Committee of AIME soon evolved into the Petroleum Division of AIME as membership grew.
The Growth of Professional Societies
The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) was formed in 1957 Previously had been the Petroleum Division within AIME. 12,500 Members in 1957 97,000 Current Members Establishes Education Curriculums and Standards Provides Technical Publications Many Branches around the world
The Growth of Professional Societies
Andrew Carnegie Gave $1,500,000 to organize the United Engineering Society and Create the Engineering Societies Building The Founder Societies were:
ASCE ASME IEEE AIChE AIME (American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers)
Developed Uniform Codes of Ethics between the Societies These Societies Work Together to Mold our World, both in the US and Internationally
Growth of Computing
In the 1880’s, Herman Hollerith of the US Census Bureau
Combined the ideas of a Train Conductor punching passenger tickets and Jaquard’s punched Loom cards Developed a card punch system to record data from the 1890 census. Hollerith’s patents were purchased by the ComputingTabulating-Recording Co., which was renamed IBM in 1924.
In 1936-38, Alan Touring and John Von Neumann proposed the idea that a computer could be developed in which both the instructions and the data could be held in a binary form in storage.
Growth of Computing
This led to the development of many early digital computers,
Colossus – 1944 – Used to break the German Enigma code – Hardwired – Vacuum Tube ENIAC – 1945 - Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer – US Army Ballistics Research Laboratory – Vacuum Tube EDVAC – Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer – Stored Program in Memory UNIVAC I – 1951 - Universal Automatic Computer 1 – First Commercial Computer, Built by Remington Rand Corp. – First computer system built for Business and Administrative Use.
The later ones were controlled by assembly language, the basic binary code that fed directly into memory. International Business Machines (IBM) did not start out in the computer business. IBM CEO Thomas Watson predicted in 1943 that he thought “there is a world market for maybe five computers…” In 1949, Popular Mechanics predicted that “Computers in the future may weigh less than 1.5 tons.”
Growth of Computing
As computer usage spread in the 1950’s, it became apparent that more knowledge was needed for its support
System Architecture Development of Computer Languages and Language Theory
Cobol, Fortran, Algol, Basic, C, C++ Software Development and Engineering
Handling of Large Data Sets Coding of Mathematical Algorithms Logic and Decision Sciences Robotics and Automation, Control, Data Acquisition, etc. Artificial Intelligence Scientific Computing
The term “Computer Science” was coined in the late 1950’s to bring these fields together These events led to the start of the “Computer” and “Information” Revolutions which are still ongoing.
The Growth of Professional Societies
The Association for Computing Machinery – ACM
Founded in 1947 and Headquartered in New York World’s First Scientific and Educational Computing Society. Has almost 90,000 members Has more than 170 local chapters and over 500 student chapters Formed to disseminate computer related information Direct university Computer Science curriculum. 2008 President is Wendy Hall, Manchester, UK
By the way…
Sylvanus Thayer’s Curriculum at the US Military Academy Required the Cadets in 1817 to:
Study the material on their own before class, Work problems on the boards for most of the one to three hour class periods The professor would walk around and see what the students were writing, maybe using it as an example of good or bad There was little or no Lecture, as the student was responsible for his own education Daily Recite Solutions to the Rest of the Class Be Evaluated Weekly and Ranked Monthly Provide Support Through the Grade Years By Creating MultiYearTeams
190 Years Later…They Still Do! (See, Class isn’t so bad.)
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