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On Machine Design's 80th Anniversary, the editors take stock, asking several experts what changes the engineering profession has gone through and what has stayed the same.
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MD Staff
Herbert Hoover used to tell of meeting a woman on a ship while traveling. After several conversations over a week or so, the woman asked what his occupation was. Hoover told her he was an engineer, a mining engineer. And the woman replied, "An engineer? I thought you were a gentleman." It seems the lady, like many people of her time, assumed engineering was not a gentlemanly career.
This lack of respect from society still galls many in engineering, especially compared to the public adulation (or at least high salaries) given to doctors, lawyers, and scientists.
"Part of the respect problem is that the personality of the average engineer and the way they are taught does not bring out the best as far as earning respect from society," says Henry Petroski, a professor of civil engineering and history at Duke University, and author of several books on engineering "Engineers tend to be shy, and not very talkative, unless you're discussing their latest project or some aspect of engineering that interests them. In schools and universities, we don't even teach them the history and traditions of their professions."
One early high point for engineers was Britain's Victorian Age when a popular series of books, Lives of engineer*, was written by Samuel Miles. "These were biographies of famous engineers who were held up as paragons of virtue and achievement, and as true gentlemen." says Petroski.
One reason engineers may not get the respect they deserve is that they always seem to be working in the shadows of scientists and leaving the public unsure what engineers really do, besides drive trains. "The public just isn't too savvy. They confuse science and engineering, almost always to the detriment of engineers," says Edward Pershey, vice president of special projects at the Western Reserve Historical Society with a Ph.D. in the history of technology. "A scientist's goal is to uncover new infoi mation about how the world works. Engineers take this knowledge and solve problems."
"Look at the Manhattan Project, which was reported more as a scientific achievement rather than...