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Engineering is the application of science to the needs of humanity. This is accomplished through knowledge, mathematics and practical experience applied to the design of useful
objects or processes. Professional practitioners of engineering are called engineers.
Compared to other professions
Engineering is concerned with the implementation of a solution to a practical problem. A scientist may ask "why?" and proceed
to research the answer to the question. By contrast, engineers want to know how to solve a problem and how to implement
that solution.
In other words, scientists investigate phenomena, whereas engineers create solutions to problems or improve upon existing
solutions.
The terms "engineer" and "technologist" are not interchangeable; both describe different types of work and different
professions. To illustrate: Once engineers have found a solution for the problem at hand, their work stops, and technologists begin the work of improving the solution. This process is dependent
on various factors that vary with time. A solution that could be a practical application of a scientific fact does not satisfy a
technologist. A technologist endeavours to bring it within the economic constraints so that the common person not only
understands and marvels at science but also is able to enjoy it and loses fear of it by constant interaction.
As an illustrative example, on November 21, 1877, Thomas A.
Edison developed the phonograph -- a remarkable feat of engineering. Then,
he directed his assistant (the technologist) to improve the device further by removing harmonics from the sound output.
The task of engineering
The engineer must identify and understand the relevant constraints in order to produce a successful design. Constraints
include available resources, physical or technical limitations, flexibility for future modifications and additions, and other
factors such as requirements for cost, manufacturability, serviceability, and marketing and aesthetic, social, or ethic
considerations. By understanding the constraints, engineers deduce specifications for the limits within which an object or system
may be produced and operated. Engineering is therefore influenced by many considerations.
Problem solving
Engineers use their knowledge of science and mathematics, and appropriate experience, to
find suitable solutions to a problem. Creating an appropriate mathematical model of a problem allows them to analyze it (perhaps, but exceptionally, definitively),
and to test potential solutions. If multiple reasonable solutions exist, engineers evaluate the different design choices on their merits and choose the solution that best meets the
requirements.
Engineers typically attempt to predict how well their designs will perform to their specifications prior to full-scale
production. They use, among other things: prototypes, scale models, simulations, destructive tests, nondestructive testing, and stress tests.
Testing ensures that products will perform as expected. Engineers as professionals take seriously their responsibility to produce
designs that will perform as expected and will not cause unintended harm to the public at large. Engineers typically include a
factor of safety in their designs to reduce the risk of unexpected
failure.
Use of computers
Computers, and design software, play an increasingly important role. Using computer aided design (CAD) software, engineers are able to capture more information about their
designs. The computer can automatically translate some models to instructions suitable for automatic machinery (e.g., CNC) to fabricate (part of) a design. The computer also allows increased reuse of previously
developed designs by presenting an engineer with a library of predefined parts ready to be used in designs.
Additionally, engineers make use of a variety of circuit schematics software
to aid in the creation of a circuit designs that perform an electronic task when used for a printed circuit board (PCB) or a computer chip.
It is a myth that engineer originated to describe those who built engines.
In fact, the words engine and engineer (as well as ingenious) developed in parallel from the Latin
root ingeniosus, meaning 'skilled'. An engineer is thus a clever, practical, problem solver. The spelling of
engineer was later influenced by back-formation from engine. The term later evolved to include all fields where
the skills of application of the scientific method are used. In
some other languages, such as Arabic, the word for "engineering" also means "geometry".
Connections to other disciplines
Science attempts to explain newly observed and unexplained phenomena, often
creating mathematical models of observed phenomena. Technology and engineering are attempts at practical application of knowledge (often
from science). Scientists work on science; engineers work on technology. However, there is often an overlap between science and
engineering. It is not uncommon for scientists to become involved in the practical application of their discoveries; thereby
becoming, for the moment, engineers. Conversely, in the process of developing technology engineers sometimes find themselves
exploring new phenomena, thus becoming, for the moment, scientists.
There are significant parallels between the practice of medicine and
engineering. Both professions are well known for their pragmatism -- the solution to real world problems often
requires moving forward before phenomenea are completely understood in a more rigorous scientific sense.
There are also close connections between the workings of engineers and artists; they are direct in some fields, for example,
architecture and industrial design, and indirect in others. Artistic and engineering creativity may be fundamentally
connected.
Engineers in culture
Historically, engineering has been seen as a somewhat dry, uninteresting field in popular culture, and has also been thought to be the domain of nerds
(with little of the romance that attaches to hacker culture). Significantly, the
cartoon character Dilbert is an engineer.
See Also
Tools
Methods
Major Branches
See Fields of engineering for a full listing.
Misc
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