Greatest Achievement in Engineering 8

[zdas04]

There was recently a thread in another forum from a student asking for opinions on "What is the Greatest Achievement in Engineering" of all time. The thread in that forum violated several of eng-tips rules and was inappropriate. But it got me thinking what really was the greatest engineering achievement of all time? Was it one of the early efforts of developing the wheel or the lever? Was it the U.S. space program that spun off so many wonderful new technologies? Was it the computer? Was it the aqueduct's of Rome?

What is your perspective on the greatest achievement in engineering of all time? All answers must be justified and defended there is no "right" answer, but I hope there will be many "wrong" answers.

David

 

[25362]

To EM, sorry for the mix up, the contributing reasons: your handle written in bold letters, distraction and a bad eyesight.

As for the last sentence in your previous post, I entirely agree and bear witness to its being true. In my long career I was lucky enough to work beside two outstanding chemical engineers (PhD) -one of them now deceased- in two different continents, who, after being heads of R&D divisions for some years, became general managers of oil refineries, and excelled in both positions.

 

[Skogsgurra]

Congratulations to 25362 for having posted the 100th post in this thread.

My little contribution to this thread is to ask zdas04 to start a new thread "Greatest Achievement in Engineering II" because this one is getting very long and takes some time to load (old telephone line and 50 kb/s modem).

Sequels are popular - and it would also give me the great pleasure of having the last word in a thread.

;-)

 

[zdas04]

Sorry, I started this ramble, I get to finish(?) it.

So, the consensus of the group is that the greatest feat in engineering falls somewhere between the "invention" of fire and the development of the supermarket shopping cart with the wonky wheels. I can't disagree with that.

Anyone with the wherewithal to read through this long thread (102 posts in 2 weeks is pretty impressive) will see a lot of good information and sound reasoning to help them form their own opinion.

In my mind the "soul" of engineering is an evaluation followed by an opinion. Engineer's reading this thread in the future will have a decent collection (with impressive arguments) of nominees to help them form their own opinion. This looks like an outstanding engineering exercise to me.

Thank you all.

David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering

http://www.muleshoe-eng.com

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.

 

[AlohaBob]

Some comments over the years are significant.

The best thing since.... Canned beer, Or apple pie.

Also, if Ben Franklin hadn't invented the lightbulb, we would be watching TV today in the dark.

 

[EnglishMuffin]

Perhaps you were joking, but in case you weren't, Ben Franklin did not invent the lightbulb. And as a matter of fact, neither did Edison, in spite of the popular myths to the contrary.

 

[jmw]

After much thought, i finally give my vote to "duct tape" (often pronounced "Duck tape") as it has to be one of the most versatile of all the tools in an engineers tool box and far more widley used than the inventors can have eimagined, not just for Pop Cranes easy chair in Frasier.

JMW

http://www.viscoanalyser.com

Eng-Tips: Pro bono publico, by engineers, for engineers.

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.

 

[25362]

To EnglishMuffin, I forgot to thank you for pointing me to the article by Alberto Mendez-Arocha of April 17,2002 On the origin of the name "engineer", on your post of May 16th. Never too late...

 

[plasgears]

Second to the Manhattan Project has to be the V-2 project. Read Dornberger's account entitled "V-2."

One chapter in particular is his summary of technical achievements developed during those trying times. Setting aside political differences (I hate the Nazi's, too), it is an eye opener. Some of their developments are still being explointed in current technology:

- swirl vaporization of fuel
- film cooling
- motion acceleration (second derivative) feedback

During development testing in Poland they positioned themselves at ground zero with telescopes to study flight motions of the rocket after re-entering the atmosphere. As a result, they reinforced the casing against breakup.