Page 28 - issue 28 2020

28 Opinion

>> From Page 26
a degree at the University of Cambridge. Srinivasa Ramanujan, FRS, who discipline, with Engineering becoming
She had to settle for a certificate, since authored almost 4000 theorems. It took a mere cousin. Engineering became
women could not be given degrees. several Cambridge Mathematicians more of construction. There was more
among them Godfrey Harold Hardy, FRS, division! A class of Engineers called Civil
In the US, Mary Engle Pennington to actually understand some of them. Engineers was formed, to distinguish
completed the requirements for a BS His country understood and recognized them from Military Engineers.
degree in chemistry at the University him less. He got a job as a clerk, Grade
of Pennsylvania in 1892, but was given III, at the Accountant General’s office In Norway the “Civil Engineer” is a
a certificate of proficiency instead. I which paid him 20 rupees (about 5 Pula) protected title and an umbrella of all
suspect that men were involved in these a month. Surely, 5 Pula, 40 US Cents per engineering programmes; perhaps
kinds of regulations. (Wiki, Women in month is not a living wage. Ramanujan more like a tree under which all can
Engineering, 2020). died, aged 32. In almost no time the shelter from extreme heat. Ask the
proper definition and attributes of Kombi Bus Loading Tout, (they call them
Enter the Late Modern Period (1750 – Engineer: genius and cleverness, were “MaWindi” in Zimbabwe) and he would
1945) lost. say “A Kombi is like tree, everyone has
a place under its shade”. And so it is
Engineers like Da Vinci lived in what is In the United States an Engineer is a that a 14-Seat Kombi can accommodate
called the Early Modern Period. This Locomotive Driver; even here in Africa, over 20.Outside Norway, Civil Engineers,
is a period of, the Renaissance, Age of if you say you are an Electrical Engineer, today, are more associated with
Discovery (or Exploration), Age of the you will find people dropping off construction.
Sail, the Reformation and the Qing broken electric kettles and irons at your
Dynasty of China which lasted almost doorstep. We see in this period that the Look at us now. Civil, Structural,
300 years. The Early Modern Period was open and freethinking genius of Da Vinci Mechanical, Electrical, Electronics,
followed by the Late Modern Period, and Imhotep vanished. Control, Mechatronics, Engineers.
associated with Revolutions and Wars. There is now a plethora of degrees
The Organization of Engineering programmes and clamouring for more
One of these revolutions, the Industrial new engineering programmes.
Revolution, was obviously less deadly The freethinking, inventiveness and
than the political revolutions associated genius of the engineers soon became The Consequences of Engineers
with this Period. It was the Period of both an asset and a threat during the forgetting the Art and Philosophy
German-born King George II of Great wars. Many German Scientists were The distancing of Science from
Britain. The present Queen Elizabeth II is lured to “free world” countries such Engineering was indeed unfortunate
a descendent of George II. Her Husband, as the United States. One of them was but the two have remained cousins. The
Prince Philip, was born in Greece. Albert Einstein, Nobel-winning scientist separation of Art from both Engineering
and philosopher who after graduating >> To Page 29
The first Steam Engine was by an African, with a Doctorate from the famous ETH
Hero of Alexandria, whose lecture of Zurich, Switzerland failed to land a
notes span the fields of mathematics, lecturing position there, ending up as
mechanics, physics, and pneumatics technical assistant at the patent office
and cybernetics. The well-known in Bern, the capital.
Stephenson “rocket” Locomotive was It was perhaps at ETH that he experienced
invented much later in the Late Modern the ugly face of homophobia. Einstein
period we are discussing now. was born in Germany. Later, Einstein
was offered the position of President
About this time the definition of of Israel, and he declined. Engineering,
“Engineer” was that of a man who as we know it today, is largely the
could build a steam engine with his own decimation, at best, dilution of genius. First Engineer was an African Imhotep
hands. A genius of note in the Asian sub- of Memphis, Egypt. wise and clever man,
continent was Indian Mathematician, Worse than that, Science, which was architect, astrologer, Chief Minister and
integral to it transformed itself into a
Spiritual adviser to Pharaoh Djoser

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