This file is for all kinds of engineers.
Also see Engineering Humor and Business.
Quotes
- Airplanes are not designed by science, but by art--in spite of some pretense and humbug to the contrary. I do not mean to suggest that engineering can do without science, on the contrary, it stands on scientific foundations, but there is a big gap between scientific research and the engineering product which has to be bridged by the art of the engineer. (British Engineer to the Royal Aeronautical Society, 1922)
- The difference between Mechanical Engineers and Civil Engineers is that Mechanical Engineers build weapons, Civil Engineers build targets.
- The engineer is the key figure in the material progress of the world. It is his engineering that makes a reality of the potential value of science by translating scientific knowledge into tools, resources, energy and labor to bring them into the service of man...To make contributions of this kind the engineer requires the imagination to visualize the needs of society and to appreciate what is possible as well as the technological and broad social age understanding to bring his vision to reality. (Sir Eric Ashby)
- Engineering is a great profession. There is the fascination of watching a figment of the imagination emerge through the aid of science to a plan on paper. Then it moves to realization in stone or metal or energy. Then it brings homes to men or women. Then it elevates the standard of living and adds to the comforts of life. This is the engineer's high privilege. (Herbert Hoover)
- Engineering is an activity other than purely manual and physical work which brings about the utilization of the materials and laws of nature for the good of humanity. (R. E. Hellmund)
- Engineering is the art of modeling materials we do not wholly understand, into shapes we cannot precisely analyze so as to withstand forces we cannot properly assess, in such a way that the public has no reason to suspect the extent of our ignorance. (Dr. A. R. Dykes)
- Engineering is the art of organizing and directing men and controlling the forces and materials of nature for the benefit of the human race. (Henry G. Stott)
- Engineering is the practice of safe and economic application of the scientific laws governing the forces and materials of nature by means of organization, design and construction, for the general benefit of mankind. (S. E. Lindsay)
- Engineering is the professional art of applying science to the optimum conversion of natural resources to the benefit of man. (Ralph J. Smith)
- Engineering is the science of economy, of conserving the energy, kinetic and potential, provided and stored up by nature for the use of man. It is the business of engineering to utilize this energy to the best advantage, so that there may be the least possible waste. (William A. Smith)
- Engineering refers to the practice of organizing the design and construction (and, I would add operation) of any artifice which transforms the physical world around us to meet some recognized need. (G. F. C. Rogers)
- Engineers are about the details.
- Engineers...are not superhuman. They make mistakes in their assumptions, in their calculations, in their conclusions. That they make mistakes is forgivable; that they catch them is imperative. Thus it is the essence of modern engineering not only to be able to check one's own work but also to have one's work checked and to be able to check the work of others. (Henry Petroski)
- Engineers think in "math".
- A good scientist is a person with original ideas. A good engineer is a person who makes a design that works with as few original ideas as possible. (Freeman Dyson)
- The history of engineering is really the history of breakages, and of learning from those breakages. I was taught at college 'the engineer learns most on the scrapheap'. (C. A. Claremont)
- The ideal engineer is a composite...He is not a scientist, he is not a mathematician, he is not a sociologist or a writer; but he may use the knowledge and techniques of any or all of these disciplines in solving engineering problems. (N. W. Dougherty)
- The real engineer is an artist.
- A scientist can discover a new star, but he cannot make one. He would have to ask an engineer to do that. (Gordon L. Glegg)
- Scientists discover the world that exists; engineers create the world that never was. (Theodore Von Karman)
- Scientists dream about doing great things. Engineers do them. (James A. Michener)
I am an Engineer
I take the vision which comes from dreams
and apply the magic of science and mathematics,
adding the heritage of my profession
and my knowledge of nature's materials
to create a design.
I organize the efforts and skills of my fellow workers
employing the capital of the thrifty
and the products of many industries,
and together we work toward our goal
undaunted by hazards and obstacles.
And when we have completed our task
all can see
that the dreams and plans have materialized
for the comfort and welfare of all.
I am an Engineer
I serve mankind
by making dreams come true.
Songs about Engineers
- Architects and Engineers - Guster (2010)
- Engineers Drinking Song - The Chorallaries of MIT (2010)
- Gonna Be an Engineer - Peggy Seeger (1979)
- I'm a Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech - 101 Strings (2010)
- Measurement Blues - Martin Rowe (2006)
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