History of Engineering

Dr Lum Kit Meng

School of Civil & Environmental Engineering

Ref: Engineering & Society, Chapter 1 & 2

History of Engineering 1
 A chronologies of past events to help us to
understand why things happened.
 Presents the past in a way that makes more
sense of the present.
 Gives meaning to the continuity to a
multiplicity of apparently unrelated events
to make the connection between
engineering & different aspects of human
society.

History of Engineering 2
  When did engineering really begin?
 What is the connection between technology,
science, & engineering?
Solving problems
How the physical For the use and and meeting needs
world works? convenience of man

 How does engineering affect society & the world we

live in?
 How do engineering activities affect you as an
engineer in the future?
Cai Lun (蔡伦; CE 48–121): invented
the composition for paper along
with the papermaking process
History of Engineering 3
 Technology, science & engineering emerged
as distinct areas of human endeavor at
different periods of human history.
 The relationships between the activities
associated with them have changed and will
continue to evolve over time.

History of Engineering 4
 Technology is a form of human cultural
activity for practical ends & purposes.
 It involves forming & transforming the
material world through ideas & thoughts; it
is typically done with the aid of tools &
procedures.
 Technology is about solving problems &
meeting needs in the real world.
 It includes products, processes & systems
that takes into account the environment
required for their development & use.

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 The origin of technology dates from the Stone
Age.
 Earliest human ancestors were hunter-
gatherers, taking advantage of animal life and
seasonal variation of plant produce.
 Adopted systematic “technological actions” to
survive.

History of Engineering 6
 Made tools from wood and stone for
survival purposes.
 Stones were fractured to produce sharp
edges for cutting.
 Others include grinding stones, the wedge,
carrying yoke, the ax & the spear.
 Developed the controlled use of fire,
fashioning of clothing & utensils for
domestic use.

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 Fertile river valleys provided favorable
conditions for crop growth.
 Domesticated animals as beasts of burdens.
 Establishment of agrarian society; e.g., in
Mesopotamia, the Nile Valley, others in India
& China.

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 Primitive sledge for crop transportation.
 Use of level in balance beam for weighing
(5000 B.C. in Egypt).
 Use of wheel – potter’s wheel, chariots,
(3500 B.C. in Mesopotamia).
 Smelting & working of metals.
 Large-scale control of water resources in
river-based societies.

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 Mesopotamians built
using brick.
 Egyptians built using
stones; e.g., the Great
Pyramid of Gizeh – 230m
square, 147m high,
using massive stone
blocks (2 to 30 tons each)
assembled with such
accuracy that remains
impressive today.
 The Greek culture that
followed was built on
Egyptian foundations.
Source: National Geographic

History of Engineering 10
 Cultural history centred on
Greece & Rome: Troy (Achilles)

 The Greeks laid the first philosophical & scientific

basis for knowledge (600 B.C.).
 Philosophers such as Thales, Socrates & Plato
attempted to explain the world on the basis of
rationality rather than myth.
 Greek technological achievements were not
spectacular because scholars disdained practical
craft skills.
 Euclid, Pythagoras & Plato struggled to find
philosophical basis for natural phenomena &
humanity’s place in the universe.
 Archimedes (287-212 B.C.) used mechanical
models to arrive at mathematical results, but
discarded them in his proofs.

History of Engineering 11
 Romans inherited Greek philosophy & mathematics
but did not encourage abstract science.
 Engineering practice became more recognizable.
 Had engineers competent in contracts,
specifications & costing, that built road systems as
key military technology.
 Roads facilitated rapid troop movement throughout
the empire.
 Romans also excelled in hydraulics bringing water
to towns in large stone aquaducts & reticulating it
in lead pipes.

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 Like Greece, Rome became technologically
stagnant.
 Productivity was limited by widespread use of
slaves that precluded efforts to develop
labor-saving technology.
 Engineering advances in the military &
transport fields driven by imperial endeavors
to invade & fortify cities.
 The Roman Empire crumbled around 400 -
500 A.D.

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 Relative chaos after the Roman Empire collapsed.
 Expanding population led to cultivation of forested
lowlands that required “new” agricultural
technology to till the heavy soils of Northern
Europe.
 By 900 A.D., feudalism emerged – kings & powerful
nobles gave land grants (not ownership) to
members of their retinues who then rendered
military services.
 Peasants became serfs to work the lands – led to
primitive accumulation of capital that gave rise to
middle class of peasants.
 Political sovereignty was fragmented; led to growth
of free cities.

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 City/town growth led to commodity
production.
 Formation of medieval craft guilds which
planned production & supervised, trained &
even employed workmen.
 Economy based on serfs and craft workers
rather than slaves encouraged the use of
labor-saving technology.

Moving away from agriculture production

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 Outbreak of bubonic plague, “the black
death” in Europe in A.D. 1348.
 Over 40% loss of population over two
generations – labor shortage.
 Power based on land holding was
challenged by town-based merchants.
 Led to a move away from feudalism.
 Power was increasingly centralized in
monarchies – monarchs were suspicious of
feudal barons.

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 Emergence of medieval technologies in
military & printing helped to strengthen the
monarchies.
 Monarchs introduced standing armies,
permanent bureaucracy, taxation, law and
the beginnings of unified markets.
 Rich monarchs, backed by powerful
merchants, set the conditions for the rise of
merchant capitalism.
 Ships set sail to open the way for the
discovery of the New World of America.
Emergence of Merchant Capitalism
History of Engineering 17
 Rediscovery of ancient Greek & Roman
culture & the discovery of America brought
new ideas & knowledge to Europe.
 Poets, artists & sculptors embraced new
humanistic perspectives that were far from
medieval religious symbolism.
 Centers were established for learning in
theology, law & medicine.
 Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) – the best
example of a Renaissance man.

Not just production but Arts as well

History of Engineering 18
 At the end of the 16th Galileo Galilee
century, observation & 1564 - 1642
experiment presented
challenges to centuries-
old dogma to present a
new view of nature.
 Galileo (1564-1642)
developed the telescope
– from observation of
Jupiter’s satellites,
concluded that the Earth
revolved round the Sun.

History of Engineering 19
 Francis Bacon (1561-
1626) was an enthusiast
for industrial science –
used inductive approach
to draw conclusions from
experimental data.
 Rene Descartes (1596-
1650) emphasized
deductive approach
through mathematics.
Advocated that science &
religion should be
separated – promoted the
advance of science.

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 In the 17th century, the rise of capitalism led to
renewed interest in the practical orientation of
knowledge in artisans’ trade practices.
 Intellectual assumptions & attitudes toward
knowledge from the Middle Ages yielded to a new
view of the world – knowledge was much less
controlled by the Church.
 The Earth-centered cosmos of Aristotle gave way
to the acceptance of the solar system.
 The universe was seen to obey Newton’s law –
knowledge became a means of controlling nature.

Knowledge for ALL

History of Engineering 21
 With ships fitted with navigational aids & firearms,
Europe set out to explore & conquer foreign lands
to seize new resources.
 In the 16th century, Spain & Portugal led the
overseas conquests for gold, silver, etc.
 In the early 17th century, the Netherlands
dominated world trades & founded profitable
empires in the East & West Indies.
 Britain used its large coal deposits to drive its
industries; surpassed the Netherlands to build a
vast colonial empire.
Exploration
History of Engineering 22
 Monopolies in mining, manufacturing & foreign
trade were granted by monarchs to their court
favorites & merchant guilds.
 In 1624, British parliament reduced the royal
power.
 Land holding under the feudal system was officially
abolished – large estates of the defeated Royalists
were sold.
 Rich merchants implemented efficient large-scale
scientific farming practices that led to increase in
productivity to satisfy the expanding markets – the
Agricultural Revolution.

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 By early 18th century, urban merchants with
banking & exchange practices gained control of
commodity production.
 Capitalist formed new social class & challenged
religious authority & hereditary privileges.
 They emphasized individual freedom to invest &
trade as he saw fit.
 Plunder from the colonies helped to finance the
European industrial take-off.
 Continuous exploitation of colonial resources
sustained European industrial growth & left a
legacy of under-developed colonies.

Rising Capitalism
History of Engineering 24
 In England, the guilds were weakened by anti-
monopoly legislation.
 In 1709, Abraham Darby discovered how to use
coal to smelt iron – important raw materials to
make machines & structures.
 In 1776, Adam Smith described the division of
labor in pin making that greatly increased workers’
productivity.
 Once production processes were standardized,
each process could then be replaced by a machine.
 Development of these machines completed the
transformation to modern industrial production.

Technological enhancement
History of Engineering 25
 Mechanization of tasks led to profusion of
machines – for spinning, sewing, iron smelting, etc.
 Journeymen reduced to machines minders – people
sold their raw labor power to owners of factories &
mills.
 The industrial revolution provided employment for
those displaced from the land.
 Social & economic impact of the industrial
revolution – population growth.
 Population growth was both an underlying cause &
a fuel for the industrial revolution – provided labor
for new industries & markets for their products.
Machine taking over
History of Engineering 26
 Steam power was harnessed for use in machines by
early 17th century.
 In 1698, Thomas Savery invented & patented a
primitive steam engine. It was James Watt who
improved on the efficiency of the engine &
introduced adaptation in 1782 to produce rotary
motion.
 James Watt’s (1736-1819) improved steam engine
drove new machinery that took British industry to
world leadership.
 Steam engine formed the basis for the rise of the
mechanical engineering profession.
Steam Engine
History of Engineering 27
History of Engineering 28
 In 1804, Richard Trevithick built the first steam-
powered locomotive.
 In 1825, wrought iron rails were introduced and
the success of George Stephenson’s “Rocket”
locomotive in 1829 set the stage for the railway
age.
 Railway enabled the ability to move people & goods
quickly, reliably & economically – opened up
broader markets for goods & services.
 The building of railroads was a major factor in the
colonization of much of the rest of the world.

Moving far and wide

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History of Engineering 30
John Rennie John Smeaton Thomas Telford
(1716 - 1821) (1724 - 1792) (1757 - 1834)

1st President of
ICE, 1820

First British Civil Engineer

to be elected President of
ICE
History of Engineering 31
Marc Isambard Brunel Isambard Kingdom Brunel George Stephenson
(1769 - 1849) (1806 - 1859) (1781 - 1848)

1st President of
IMechE,1847
History of Engineering 32
 The Crystal Palace Exhibition in London in 1851
was a celebration of British engineers and
engineering, as it marked the high point of British
industrial ascendancy.

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 Moral worth of a
person is determined
by its outcome

 Settlers in US were extremely utilitarian –

dissenters from established churches.
 Saw knowledge as a commodity to satisfy human
needs – a frontier spirit of inventiveness.
 American entrepreneurs designed industrial
equipment that reduced their dependence on labor.
 American engineers took the lead in machine shop
techniques to develop effective grinding & milling
machines.
 American system of manufacture was characterized
by highly standardized products of interchangeable
parts.

History of Engineering 34
 The early American Republic leaders recognized
the need to encourage domestic manufacture,
especially basic military equipment.
 Expansion of American railroads opened up
national markets for machine tools.
 Tensions arose between slave-owning South and
the rapidly industrialized North led to the
devastating American Civil War (1861-1865) – both
sides fought with “modern” weapons.
 After the civil war, the railroads united the nations
to move ahead with greater momentum – the 1st
trans continental rail link saw trainloads of baffalo
skins going east for manufacture into consumer
products.

History of Engineering 35
 Robert Fulton (1765-1815) – Robert Fulton
best known for his pioneering
work on steamboats.
 Eli Whitney (1765-1825) –
patented a simple cotton gin
to separate fibre from seeds.
Milling machine with automatic
feed in 1820.

History of Engineering 36
 Britain’s loss of industrial leadership from 1850s
onwards reflected complacency in society at large.
 The peaceful & protracted transfer of power from
aristocracy to rising capitalist state fostered a self-
limiting development in Britain.
 Industrialization in Britain was indigenous – more
accommodated to existing social structure.
 Pressures to adopt values & interests of
industrialization were resisted by the ruling elite –
hence, Britain did not change radically & have
barely done so even now.

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 Universities emphasized on pursuit of
scientific knowledge for its own sake –
neglected & undervalued commercial
application.
 British preoccupation with individually fitted
final product discouraged standardization –
precipitated Britain’s relative decline.
 Dominance of the steam engine delayed
other form of power development in Britain.

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 France & Germany developed the internal
combustion machine w/o real competition.
 In the US, consumers were prepared to buy
standard items, creating the opportunity for mass
production.
 Technological convergence in the US whereby a
range of key metal-working industries emerged
with common technological needs.
 The same machine tools were used across a range
of industries – over several decades within the
same manufacturing enterprises, there was a
progression of products from guns to machine
tools, to sewing machines, bicycles, motorcycles, &
finally to automobiles.

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 Innovative
development of
machine tools & their
use to produce
standardized
interchangeable
parts, paved the way
for Henry Ford to use
moving assembly-
line techniques to
produce
automobiles.

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 From 1860 to 1900, manufacturing replaced
agriculture as the leading source of economic
growth in US.
 In the 2nd half of the 19th century, the
manufacturing industry was itself transformed –
manufacturers shifted to producing products for
consumers to producers.
 Heavy industry – steel, iron, petroleum & machinery
grew rapidly, boosted by a number of technical
innovations.
 Price of raw materials fell – stimulated new
demands & further technological changes.

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 Bismarck became
Chancellor of
Germany in 1871
and led a concerted
drive towards
industrialization.
 Created state-
owned national
railway to open up
internal market.

History of Engineering 42
 Push to expand foreign trade in the export
of industrial products.
 German government strongly promoted
education relevant to industrialization.
 German manufacturers set up closely
integrated industrial research laboratories.
 By 1900, Germany had surpassed Britain as
an industrial power, especially in the field of
university-level technical expertise.

History of Engineering 43
Sir Henry Bessemer Gustave Eiffel Thomas Alva Edison
(1813 - 1898) (1832 - 1923) (1847 - 1931)

History of Engineering 44
 During the Industrial Revolution, engineer training
in Britain involved paying a substantial fee for a 5-
year pupilage in an engineer’s office.
 Britain did not establish engineering schools (@
London & Glasgow Universities) until 1840.
 Failure to recognized the need for systematic
science-based education for technologists allowed
other countries to overtake Britain.
 Formal & informal associations of practicing
engineers, manufacturers, & scientists allowed
exchange of ideas & experience in the general
development of the engineering profession.
UK
History of Engineering 45
 One early leader of the engineering profession was
John Smeaton, the 1st Englishman to differentiate
himself as a “Civil” engineer (rather than military).
 In 1771, Smeaton & some colleagues formed the
Smeatonian society of Civil Engineers.
 The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) was formed
in 1818 to distinguished itself from other societies.
 In 1820, Thomas Thelford, a leading engineer of
that time, became the President of ICE.
 In 1828, he obtained the Royal Charter for ICE to
give it the status as the leader of the profession.
UK
History of Engineering 46
 Other major powers adopted a much more
structured approach to training engineers.
 In 1676, France set up a specialized army
Corps of Engineers.
 In 1747, France established the 1st
engineering school, the Ecole Nationale des
Ponts st Chaussees.
 In 1794, the Ecole Polytechnique was
established.
 The engineering profession in France
continues to enjoy high social status. France
History of Engineering 47
 US Military Academy at West Point, established in
1802, was the first American military engineering
school.
 The first non military engineering school in America,
the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, was established
in 1823 in New York.
 The success of Rensselaer in attracting students
forced other established US universities to introduce
technical courses.
 Germany established Berlin University in 1809 –
prototype for the modern research university with
academic rigor & laboratory experiments.
 Germany also established polytechnics – the 1st at
Karlsruhe in 1825. US
History of Engineering 48
 In Japan, the Meiji Restoration of 1868 dismantled
the Japanese feudal system.
 The Meiji government set up the physical &
educational infrastructure for industrialization.
 The Imperial College of Engineering was
established in Tokyo in 1873 – emphasized
practical & academic skills.
 By the end of the Meiji era in 1912, there were 4
Imperial Universities, all with engineering facilities.
 Military training centers, such as the Japanese
Naval Academy (1870), were also important for
engineering education.
Japan
History of Engineering 49
 The history of the engineering profession reflected
the transformation wrought by technological
changes.
 In the 17th & 18th century, civil engineering was
increasingly differentiated from military
engineering.
 Mechanical engineering came with the steam engine
& railroads in the late 18th and early 19th century.
 As engineering practice developed, many
specializations were added to these basic
disciplines.
Engineering specialization
History of Engineering 50
 The previous role of science had been to explain &
systemize what the engineer had done.
 Technical innovations led to major advances in
science.
 By mid 19th century, craft skills & technical know-
how required much closer interaction between
science & engineering.
 By end 19th century, major new industries emerged
based on science & systematic research.
 Individual inventors & engineers gave way to
scientists & industrial researchers & in time to large
scale R&D development departments associated
with industrial enterprises.

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 1851 – Crystal Palace Exhibition
 1869 – Union Pacific Railroad across US, Suez Canal
opened
 1876 – Invention of telephone, 1st internal
combustion engine
 1878 – Beginning of electric lighting
 1900 – Invention of radio
 1903 – Wilbur Wright’s propeller biplane flight
 1913 – Ford moving assembly line
 1914 – Panama Canal opened
 1926 – Invention of TV

History of Engineering 52
 1930 – Invention of gas turbine
 1942 – 1st electronic computer
 1947 – Invention of transistor
 1957 – Sputnik launched
 1958 – 1st integrated circuit
 1969 – 1st man on the moon
 1977 – 1st personal computer
 1981 – Microsoft MS-DOS computer operating system
 1982 – Compact disc
 1996 – “Dolly” the cloned sheep was born on 5 July
 1997 onwards - …

History of Engineering 53
 History of ICE & IMech E:
◦ www.ice.org.uk
 Achievements in the 20th century by US Academy of
Engineering:
◦ www.greatachievements.org
 UK engineers and inventions – timeline:
◦ www.engineering-timelines.com
 Inventors and inventions
◦ https://www.thoughtco.com/inventions-4133303
 Legends of Silicon Valley
◦ www.thetech.org/revolutionaries
 And many other relevant websites

History of Engineering 54