Engineering before
the Scientific Revolution
The forerunners of engineers, practical artists and
craftsmen, proceeded mainly by trial and error. Yet tinkering combined with
imagination produced many marvelous devices. Many ancient monuments cannot fail
to incite admiration. The admiration is embodied in the name “engineer”
itself. It originated in the eleventh century from the Latin ingeniator,
meaning one with ingenium, the ingenious one. The name, used for
builders of ingenious fortifications or makers of ingenious devices, was closely
related to the notion of ingenuity, which was captured in the old meaning of
“engine” until the word was taken over by steam engines and its like. Leonardo
da Vinci bore the official
title of
Ingegnere Generale. His
notebooks reveal that some Renaissance engineers began to ask systematically
what works and why.
References
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Engineering the
Industrial Revolution
The first phase of modern engineering emerged in the
Scientific Revolution. Galileo’s Two New Sciences, which seeks
systematic explanations and adopts a scientific approach to practical problems,
is a landmark regarded by many engineer historians as the beginning of
structural analysis, the mathematical representation and design of building
structures. This phase of engineering lasted through the First Industrial Revolution, when
machines, increasingly powered by steam engines, started to replace muscles in
most production. While pulling off
the revolution, traditional artisans transformed themselves to modern
professionals.
The French, more
rationalistic oriented, spearheaded civil engineering with emphasis on
mathematics and developed university engineering education under the sponsorship
of their government. The British, more empirically oriented, pioneered
mechanical engineering and autonomous professional societies under the
laissez-faire attitude of their government. Gradually, practical thinking
became scientific in addition to intuitive, as engineers developed mathematical
analysis and controlled experiments. Technical
training shifted from apprenticeship to university education. Information flowed more quickly in organized meetings and
journal publications as professional societies
emerged.
References
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