Engineering and civilization have always gone together, it is difficult to imagine one existing without the other. Indeed, we tend to associate ancient civilizations specifically with their technological achievements, which, in many cases, remain as monuments to the culture. The Pyramids are a most prominent example. The first engineer whose name is known to us was the Egyptian Imhotep, who is credited with the design of massive piles of stones as burial structures.
After millennia, the Pyramids still stand as awesome symbols of engineering design and construction. Although the processes by which the great edifices were realized remain topics of considerable speculation and debate, there is no denying that it took an engineering imagination to conceive of and lay out the elegant external and complex internal structures, and to devise and execute the necessary systems of transporting to the construction site large numbers of stones and lifting them into place in an orderly fashion.
Roman engineering achievements are no less remarkable. The towering aqueducts that still stand may be the most visible manifestations of highly developed and reliable water distribution systems, but the integrated component parts consisting of tunnels, pipes, valves, baths, and drains were all designed to achieve their individual ends and contribute to the overall plan.
While no documents give us detailed information on how the Egyptians accomplished their great engineering projects, the two-millennia-old Ten Books on Architecture by the Roman architect/engineer Vitruvius gives us considerable insight into how ancient engineering was practiced. One of the most remarkable aspects of this oldest surviving book on engineering is how it demonstrates that the way engineers thought about design in ancient times appears to have been fundamentally the same as how we think today, and in their technological context the problems with which the Romans dealt could be as thorny as those we know today.
As is evident in Vitruvius’s Ten Books -- still eminently readable for such an old treatise -- ancient architects and engineers wrestled with design problems defined by competing goals and bounded by technical and nontechnical constraints, including economic ones. Vitruvius describes how the architects and engineers of his time had to be masters of a wide variety of knowledge and skill -- essentially, they had to be broadly interdisciplinary people, something we hear expressed often today.
Greek architecture was obviously aesthetically distinct from Roman, but as Vitruvius made clear, underlying engineering principles were common to both. The design of structures in ancient times was based on geometry, with the Romans favoring the semicircular arch and hemispherical dome as a basic building unit and the Greeks employing mainly post-and-lintel construction. Whichever form was used to build in stone, ancient engineers found limits of use defined by failure.
Henry, one comment you made really resonated with me. You mention that Vitruvius's book is still eminently readable. I find that all the time. It is interesting to go back to read source material (as opposed to contemporary commentaries) on any subhject and to see how much like those authors we are. Despite all the great innovations we have developed, we still think in similar ways. In some ways that seems suprising. I guess it should not.
A wile back I was in Germany and our hosts were showing us a Roman aqueduct that was still in operation. It is really a testament to their knowledge and skill. We build on that foundation and reap the benefits.
Professor Petroski's point about learning from failure is an important one. A recent book, "Creating Innovators: The Making of Ypung People Who Will Change the World," makes a similar point. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, the author, Tony Wagner, writes, "In most high school and college classes, failure is penalized. But without trial and error, there is no innovation." Professor Petroski puts that lesson in historical context when he describes how ancient Egyptians, Romans and Greeks built a body of engineering knowledge by learning from failure.
Buildings, roads, bridges are repeatedly repaired, replaced, and demolished. We seem to have the technology to make better materials; engineering sophistication to make things last; but not the foresight to put quality ahead of short-term cost considerations. The TV breaks, it is cheaper to toss it out and buy a new one. Plastic plumbing components are replacing copper products that are now so cheaply made that they have become undependable. This says something about the current state of engineering AND our "civilization".
Good point about failure, Chuck. I remember a few decades ago IBM -- then considered a master of business organization -- did a study and found that the most successful employees were also the empolyees who made the most mistakes. The conclusion of the study was that employees should be encouraged to take more risk.
Good points, Larry. When it comes to TVs, though, I think they last well beyond the period consumers want to own them. Consumers give up well-made, perfectly well-running TVs in order to gain new features.
Rob, I believe some engineering schools are starting to take note of this fact, as well. Most notably, it's being incoporated in the curriculums at Olin College of Engineering in Massachusetts.
Excellent point—engineering and civilization DO go hand-in-hand.Several years ago, my company sent me to Egypt to call on a distributor concerning issues with atmospheric gas burners softening (another word for melting) during extended periods of firing.Propane gas was used as the fuel.If you recall, propane gas has a heating value of approximately 2500 Btu/Ft³ so the orifices must be sized accordingly or you will definitely have problems.While there, I had an opportunity to visit the pyramids.Pictures, in no way, do them justice.They are massive—massive.I would love to know the mechanisms used to hoist those stones upward and into place.I have always thought that for such an undertaking, there would be some form of documentation as to how this was accomplished.In our day, time is "of the essence".It is definitely hard to believe the "ancient" engineers worried that much about time.They seemed to be more in tune with achieving quality.
Henry, civilization and engineering are closely co-related and related in a bilateral way. Technology can bring up the living standards of citizens and this in turn can uplift the civilization. Most of the technologies we are using now a day's are either digitalized or extended versions of the older ones.
"The most successful employees were also the employees who made the most mistakes"
Rob, exactly correct. Most of the innovations are happened by accidently, similar to Einstein discovered force of gravity. If employees are not making any mistakes means, the productivity and innovation are less associated with him. He is just doing whatever he knows , that's all.
Larry S.; Quality means different things. In manufacturing 'quality' is conformance to specifications. A process can be Six Sigma and still produce junk, but it is 'quality junk' if it conforms to specifications.
And there is always the demand to always make things 'less expensive'. The trick is to stop making things 'less expensive' before the point of making them 'cheap'.
And a tangent: Despair.com has a take on building the pyramids = when you have an unlimited supply of expendable labor, there's nothing you can't do. Still, there are ancient structures that rival modern buildings.
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