Some Historical and Future Aspects of Engineering

by Ching-Jen Chen,
Yousef Haik,



Part of: Perspectives in Civil Engineering: Commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the American Society of Civil Engineers

Abstract:

This paper considers some historical aspects of engineering mechanics with emphasis on the long historical development of mechanics from the evolution of mathematics and tool-making before the Common Era to modern genomic and nanoengineering research. To focus, the discussion is divided into five periods of development: (1) engineering mechanics before the Common Era B.C.; (2) development between the first and sixteenth centuries; (3) acceleration in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; (4) glory of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; and (5) window in the twenty-first century. The paper also attempts to project a personal view on the future development in the next 50 years in engineering mechanics. This is given in a section of science fiction and fact at the end of the paper.

Subject Headings: Engineering mechanics | Engineering profession | Engineering history | Windows | Wind engineering | Project management | Nanomechanics

 

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