The Essential Engineer Quotes

“was once asked to give a talk to a group of science journalists who were meeting in my hometown. I decided to talk about the design of bridges, explaining how their form does not derive from a set of equations expressing the laws of physics but rather from the creative mind of the engineer. The first step in designing a bridge is for the engineer to conceive of a form in his mind’s eye. This is then translated into words and pictures so that it can be communicated to other engineers on the team and to the client who is commissioning the work. It is only when there is a form to analyze that science can be applied in a mathematical and methodical way. This is not to say that scientific principles might not inform the engineer’s conception of a bridge, but more likely they are embedded in the engineer’s experience with other, existing bridges upon which the newly conceived bridge is based. The journalists to whom I was speaking were skeptical. Surely science is essential to design, they insisted. No, it is not. And it is not a chicken-and-egg paradox. The design of engineering structures is a creative process in the same way that paintings and novels are the products of creative minds.”
― Henry Petroski, The Essential Engineer

“Greatest engineering achievements of 20th century ranked by National Academy of Engineering:
1. Electrification
2. Automobile
3. Airplane
4. Water supply and distribution
5. Electronics
6. Radio and Television
7. Mechanization of agriculture
8. Computers
9. The telephone system
10. Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration
11. Highways
12. Spacecraft
13. The Internet
14. Imaging
15. Household appliances
16. Health technologies
17. Petroleum and Petrochemical Technologies
18. Lasers and Fiber-optics
19. Nuclear technologies
20. High performance materials”
― Henry Petroski, The Essential Engineer: Why Science Alone Will Not Solve Our Global Problems

“Since 2005, it has been the law in California that flat roofs, which cover mainly industrial and commercial buildings, have to be white. And, since the summer of 2009, even sloping roofs put on new residential buildings have had to be “light-colored cool-roof colors, if not white.” Such mandates were motivated by the fact that “a 1,000 square foot area of rooftop painted white has about the same one-time impact on global warming as cutting 10 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.” This is so because of the amount of sunlight reflected back”
― Henry Petroski, The Essential Engineer

“This cartoon scientist wants to look, act, and think like Einstein: casually and comfortably dressed, if not somewhat unkempt and disheveled; unconventional, but in a curiously impish and self-conscious way; irreverent and individualistic, except when it comes to dressing in a nonuniform uniform and championing his specialty.”
― Henry Petroski, The Essential Engineer