Historical dimension

1. Historical dimension • History of engineering and technology • Relationship between history and engineering • Learn from the past

2. Historical dimension history Technology

3. Why study Historical Dimension The history of engineering -definition • Engineering is the use of the forces and materials of Nature in the economical design, construction, operation and development of works for the benefit of mankind.

4. What is Engineering –history & definition • The practice of engineering is an art and a business as well as applied science. • The engineer must know when to do things as well as how to do them and must know much about economics and costs if he is to be successful.

5. What is Engineering • Basically the engineer is "an ingenious designer" as the Latin origin of the word indicates. • The Roman armies called their military engineers "ingenarii"

6. What is Engineering • Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics are essential tools for both the engineer and the scientist. • The pure scientist is primarily interested in knowledge for its own sake while the engineer is concerned with the uses and practical applications of this knowledge.

7. What is Engineering • An engineer must know about various ways of performing work with various materials and the time factors and costs involved. • Good engineering involves a knowledge of the art of doing things based upon experience and a study of comparative costs based upon economic factors such as productivity of machines and human labor. • Basically the engineer is "an ingenious designer"

8. Engineer Vs Scientist • Science is about knowledge and engineering about invention • Scientists actually invent theories and Engineers invent products based on these theories. • Science is about what is, Engineering is about what can be

9. History of engineering • In prehistoric times, to survive – need to build “tools” to hunt, shelter, or to travel • So there have always been “engineers” • Engineering had no theory to support – trials and errors

10. History of engineering • Human beings are partly defined as tool designers and users, and it is this innovation and the design and use of tools that accounts for so much of the direction and pace of change of history.

11. History of engineering • Most of the broader history of civilization, of economic and social relations, is the history of engineering, engineering applications and innovation. • The Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Steam Age and Information Age all relate to engineering and innovation shaping our interaction with the world.

12. Geography of inventions and engineering • Around the Mediterranean, in the Middle East and in Asia Minor. Pyramids were erected in the Nile Valley • Map of the world

13. History of technology • In China, there are the 4 great inventions • Compass, gunpowder, papermaking and printing • the discoveries had great impact on the Chinese civilization as well as globally

14. History of technology • In the west, ancient Greek also had many important inventions in the 1000 years that straddled the BC-AD divide •  gear, screw, rotary mills, screw press, water clock, water organ, torsion catapult and the use of steam to operate some experimental machines and toys and a chart to find prime numbers

15. History of inventions • The Romans - the improvers and adapters - did likewise, building fortifications, roads, aqueducts, water distribution systems and public buildings across the territories and cities they controlled

16. Dark Ages • Dark ages (around 500 to 1500 AD) • There was the development of the mechanical clock and the art of printing. • There was the technique of heavy iron casting that could be applied to products for war, religion and industry - for guns, church bells and machinery.

17. Renaissance • The Renaissance of the 16th century, which the engineer/inventor/artist Leonardo Da Vinci dominated. But this whole period came under the influence of the architect/engineer, who built cathedrals and other large buildings, and the military engineer who built castles and other fortifications.

18. History of technology • Between 1650 and 1700 much of the mechanical part of physics learnt for HKCE were discovered • Otto von Guericke’s vacuum pump (1650) • Boyle’s Law (1662) • Hooke’s law (1676) • Newton’s Laws of motion (1687) This interest in experiment and observation led to many inventions

19. Industrial revolution • First Industrial Revolution (1750-1850) took off in UK then spreading to Europe • Replacing muscle by machine with a combination of knowledge and capital • In the textile industry • Second Industrial Revolution (1850-1900) • Steam engine and railway • Third (1875-1925) • Steel, electricity and heavy engineering

20. History of engineering • Fourth (1900-1950) • Oil • Fifth (1950 - ) • Information, telecommunication and post-war boom • Sixth (1980 - ) • IT, biotechnology and materials • Seventh (2005- ?) • Sustainable engineering etc

21. Waves of innovation

22. Industrial revolution • The invention of the steam engine was in general regarded as an important milestone in the industrial revolution • Steam engines were developed to be more and more efficient and safe – during the 18th century and allowed water pumping (out of mines) and cargo movement (boats and trains)

23. Industrial revolution • It also saw the beginnings of formal engineering education - notably in France - and the development of a new profession, that of civil engineering, in which 'civil' essentially means 'non-military.'

24. The second industrial revolution • The second industrial revolution – electricity and electromagnetics • Electrostatics began to be experimented with, leading to an understanding of current electricity, and hence electromagnetism • Moving-iron and moving-coil ammeters use a principle discovered by Oersted in 1820

25. Electricity • Ampere’s law (1826) and Ohm’s law (1827) quickly followed. Maxwell’s equations brought about an understanding of electricity and magnetism and their relationship in the 1860s – but were derived from the work of Faraday and Ampere. • In 1887 Tesla invented the induction motor and in 1888 proposed AC transmission systems

26. American Experience • The development of engineering in North America followed similar steps. • The problems of survival and food production in sometimes a hostile climate and with the requirement of transportation in this large continent. • When the Europeans came in the early 17th century, they adopted much of the indigenous technology, as well as applying - especially in the 18th century - techniques borrowed from military engineering in Europe

27. American experience • During the late 17th century, the most significant engineering activities in America were canal and railway construction. And it gave rise to the beginnings of engineering education and to the organization – in 1887 - of the first professional engineering societies. • Later on America has been a major participant in the development of many other fields of engineering - for example, aviation, hydro and nuclear power, electronics and long distance communications, mining and forestry.

28. Summary of history of engineering • Pre-scientific revolution: The prehistory of modern engineering features ancient master builders and Renaissance engineers such as Leonardo da Vinci. • Industrial revolution: From the eighteenth through early nineteenth century, civil and mechanical engineers changed from practical artists to scientific professionals. • Second industrial revolution: In the century before World War II, chemical, electrical, and other science-based engineering branches developed electricity, telecommunications, cars, airplanes, and mass production. • Information revolution: As engineering science matured after the war, microelectronics, computers, and telecommunications jointly produced information technology.

29. Engineering before the scientific revolution • The forerunners of engineers, practical artists and craftsmen, proceeded mainly by trial and error. Labor combined with imagination produced many marvelous devices. • 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.

30. Engineering in 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

31. Engineering in Industrial revolution • The French, emphasized the civil engineering with strong roots in mathematics and developed university engineering education under the sponsorship of their government. • The British, more empirically oriented, pioneered mechanical engineering and autonomous professional societies. • Practical thinking became scientific in addition to intuition, 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.

32. Engineering – second industral revolution • The second industrial revolution, symbolized by the advent of electricity and mass production, was driven by many branches of engineering • Chemical and electrical – chemical, electrical and teleccommunication industries • Marine – ocean exploration • Aeronautic – fly and travel convenience • Control – automation • Industrial – mass production and distribution systems • Engineering curricula in college as well as graduate schools

33. Engineering in Information Age • Research and development – after World War II • Cold War, space race • Engineering developed extensive theories • Reforming educational programs and expanding research efforts • New systematic knowledge – information, computer, control and communications

34. Engineering the information age • New technologies – aerospace, microelectronics, computer, internet, cell phones, nuclear engineering etc • New materials • Rise of large-scale research and development

35. Engineering in the future • Physics and chemistry have contributed most to technology • This will continue – nanotechnology • Biology – molecular and genetic • Biotechnology – multidisciplinary field • The cooperation and convergence of traditional intellectual disciplines in the development of new technology has become the trend of the future

36. Challenges of engineering • Access to affordable health care • Tackling the coupled issues of energy, transportation and climate change • Providing more equitable access to information for populations • Clean drinking water • Natural and man-made disaster mitigation • Environmental protection • Natural resource management

37. Challenges of engineering • Attracting and retaining broader cross-sections of youth • Strengthening the educational enterprise • Forging more effective interdisciplinary alliances with the natural and social sciences and the arts • Enhancing innovation, entrepreneurship and job creation • Promoting public awareness • Supporting for the engineering enterprise

38. Why historical • When or why engineering begin? • Development of engineering • How it is related to human society?

39. Why Historical • History repeats itself (歷史重演)

40. Why history? • Engineering disasters • Always repeat • Learn the lesson – avoid future disasters

41. Why so many died?

42. Why study Historical Dimension • Learn from the past • The Titanic lacked a sufficient number of lifeboats decades after most of the passengers and crew on the steamship Arctic had perished because of the same problem, it is sometimes called the “first Titanic disaster”

43. Learn from the past • In June 1966, a section of the Milford Haven bridge in Wales collapsed during the construction. In October the same year, a bridge (West-gate bridge) of similar design was being erected by the same bridge-builder in Melbourne, Australia, when it too partially collapsed, killing 33 people and injuring 19. • http://www.bridgeforum.org/us-scanning-tour/Stacy%20-%20Learning%20Failures.pdf

44. Collapse of West Gate bridge http://img.groundspeak.com/waymarking/175ca45f-e323-4538-8589-c7ed64b271b2.jpg

45. More examples • In June 1999, NASA's metric confusion caused Mars orbiter loss • The BP Deepwater Horizon drilling rig collapsed in the Gulf of Mexico on April 22, 2010 • Engineering solutions may be derived to prevent future disasters • How about cases in Hong Kong?

46. Examples in Hong Kong • Lift or elevator accidents • Disease prevention • Bird flu • SARS

47. Primary causes of engineering disasters • Human factors (including both 'ethical' failure and accidents) • Design flaws (many of which are also the result of unethical practices) • Materials failures • Extreme conditions or environments, and, most commonly and importantly combinations of these reasons

48. Causes of engineering disasters • Insufficient knowledge 36% • Underestimation of influence 16% • Ignorance, carelessness, negligence 14% • Forgetfulness, error 13% • Relying upon others without sufficient control 9% • Objectively unknown situation 7% • Imprecise definition of responsibilities 1% • Choice of bad quality 1% • Other 3%

49. Technology and engineering • A Technology: The complex of knowledge, methods, etc. used in making a product. • Engineering and technology are closely related • Technology is the “product” of engineering • From a users’ perspective, it is “technology” that is changing our life – not the “engineering” ?! • Example – 4G is it an engineering or technology?

50. Characteristics of technology • A form of human cultural activity • It is essentially for practical and purposes • It involves exercising human freedom and responsibility, particularly in choosing problems and in design approaches; that is, it involves making choices in response to normative values, such as those derived from a belief in God • It ultimately involves forming and transforming the material world and not primarily the sphere of ideas, thoughts, or symbols • It is typically done with the aid of tools and procedure