History of Engineering

What is Engineering?

Engineers use their knowledge of math and natural sciences to create, using the materialsand forces of nature,solutions to problemsthat affect mankind

What problems did the first “engineers” solve?

Safety Fortifications Walls

Water Wells Canals

Food Canals Irrigation

Earliest Engineers?

3300 b.c. - Egyptians develop dikes and canals.

Archeological records show the builders used primitive surveying instruments to lay out the canals.

Next, the King’s Monuments!

2700 b.c. - Imhotep builds first pyramid at Sakkara

2500 b.c. - Great Pyramids built at Giza

Depends heavily on labor - time is not a concern

The People’s Comfort 2000 b.c. - Sumerian builders develop

canals, temples, city walls 1800 b.c. - Hammarubi develops first

building code in Babylonia 700 b.c. - Assyrians develop the first

public water supply - 30 miles of canals to feed Ninevah. (First use of concrete!)

200 b.c. - Water supply to Pergamum includes an elevated reservoir, line pressure over 300 psi.

Trade! 450 b.c. - Greek

architectons build harbor at Samos

200 b.c. - 3300 foot long tunnel through solid limestone at Samos

Ship building, light houses, etc.

Conquest! 312 b.c. - Romans build

Appian Way 214 b.c. Chinese build

1700 mile long wall Conquest of other lands

leads to sharing of knowledge Moors in Spain Roman influence

throughout the west

Roman Creations 312 b.c. - Appian Way, Aqua Appius 17 b.c. - Aggripa builds Pantheon 98 a.d. - Alcantra bridge in Spain

175 feet high, 600 feet long dry masonry construction

122 a.d. - Hadrian’s Wall Roman cities were planned,

developed to fit the surrounding environment

Other Cultures Mayan: 12,000 B.C. to 1600 AD

Teotihuacan in central Mexico had a population of 200,000 in 350 AD.

Calendars, roads, temples, chariots Chinese: 21,000 B.C. to present

Shang Dynasty: 1700 BC – writing Han Dynasty: 200 BC – universities Silk, paper, gunpowder, printing

Western Development 500 - 1300 a.d. - Middle Ages

Little development Castles, windmills, ship building Cathedrals

1100 - 1200 a.d. - Term engineer arises Based on “in generare” - to create Often built “engines of war”

Western Development 1300 - 1750 a.d. - Great scientific

advances Previous - trial & error Sometimes ran afoul of the church

1747 - French build first Engineering school

1771 - the term “Civil Engineering” is used

1780 - James Watt builds practical steam engine - Mechanical Engineering

Western Development 1800 (?) - Eli Whitney introduces

mass production in factories - beginnings of Industrial Engineering

1844 - Samuel Morse invents the telegraph - Electrical Engineering

1885 - Karl Benz begins production of gasoline driven automobiles.

The Pace Increases 1903 - Wright Brother fly at Kitty

Hawk 1917 - Commercial air-mail service 1930 – 43 Airlines in the US 1957 – Sputnik 1961 – Manned space flight 1969 – Moon landing!

Why Study History?

Keeps our perspective on the “impossible”.

Avoid repeating mistakes. Shows us the importance of

“mundane” developments. Helps us see how historical

cultural differences may impact modern solutions.

“Its all been done”

In the late 1800’s, the head of the U.S. Patent Office appealed to Congress to close his office, saying “Everything that can ever be invented, has been.”

Lesson from the Past

Ankor Wat built by Suryavarman II (1113-c. 1150)

Most visible remnant of a highly productive society

May have been wiped out buy Malaria

Who stopped “the Plague”

City life in England in 1842 Shift from agricultural to industrial

production Overcrowding rampant Child laborers Average age of death

Gentry - 43 Tradesman - 30 Laborers 22

For every death by old age or violence, 8 died from disease

Sanitary Conditions People living in basements,

streets. Water from public wells

or pumped from river to shared standpipes.

Sewage, trash throwninto gutters.

In London the Thamesbegan to stink.

A New Plague Arrives

Cholera arrives from India. In Paris, 7000 die in 18 days. Britain's industrialized

cities lose 22,000. Doctors disagree on treatment. Under medical care,

25%-59% of patients died.

The Plague Ends Insurance Actuaries determine

that the closer you live to the Thames, the higher your risk of dying.

Laws forbid pumpingdrinking water from the Thames.

New sewers. The plague ends!