Genn001 fall2013 session #2 history of engineering inventions
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The document summarizes key engineering inventions throughout history including airplanes, highways, electricity, clean water, computers, and the telephone. It then discusses the importance of buildings, warfare, and military technology to civilizations. Major engineering advances in transportation, infrastructure, energy and information networks are highlighted as transforming civilization and enabling global connectivity.
Genn001 fall2013 session #2 history of engineering inventions
- 2. Engineering and civilization History of the most important engineering Inventions Buildings War Military Technology
- 3. The level of advancement of a civilization is often measured by its progress in agriculture, long-distance trade, occupational specialization, and urbanism. Aside from these core elements, a civilization is often marked by any combination of a number of secondary elements, including a developed transportation system, writing, standardized measurement, currency, legal systems, characteristic art and architecture, mathematics, enhanced scientific understanding, metallurgy, political structures, and an astronomical understanding.
- 4. 6 of the Best Engineering Inventions of All Time: • Airplanes • Highways • Electricity • Clean Water • Computers • Telephone
- 5. Airplanes Most of us credit the Wright Brothers for their aviation breakthrough when they launched the first controlled powered flight, on December 17, 1903. Technically, Sir George Cayley built the first true airplane in 1799. Not to knock the automobile, but the airplane undoubtedly revolutionized travel as we know it. The burdens of traveling across the country became more tolerable — what once took days or weeks is now possible in mere hours.
- 6. Highways (Roads) In a 1922 , General Motors founder William Durant said, “Most of us will live to see this whole country covered with a network of motor highways built from point to point as the bird flies, the hills cut down, the dales bridged over, the obstacles removed.” It wasn’t long after this that his vision started to take shape, and now the United States has the largest network of highways in the world. As much as we like to complain about traffic, try imagining your morning rush hour without a reliable network of
- 7. Royal Road In 500 BC, Darius I the Great started an extensive road system for Persia (Iran), including the famous Royal Road which was one of the finest highways of its time. The road was used even after the Roman times. Because of the road's superior quality, mail carriers could travel 2,699 kilometres (1,677 mi) in seven days. Roman roads With the advent of the Roman Empire, there was a need for armies to be able to travel quickly from one area to another, and the roads that existed were often muddy, which greatly delayed the movement of large masses of troops. To resolve this issue, the Romans built great roads.`
- 8. Early tar-paved roads In the medieval Islamic world, many roads were built throughout the Arab Empire. The most sophisticated roads were those of the Baghdad, Iraq, which were paved with tar in the 8th century.
- 9. Electricity Electricity has existed all along in some form rubbing two stones together to create a spark, lightning, etc. but it was merely scientific theory until innovators like Thomas Edison effectively turned it into something essential to our modern life: the light bulb. And today, electricity literally powers our world, thanks in part to Nikola Tesla’s invention of alternating current (AC) technology that made transmitting electricity over long distances possible. It’s what allows us to heat our homes, see in the dark and enjoy many modern conveniences.
- 10. Clean Water Of the roughly 70 percent of the Earth’s surface that is covered in water, less than 1 percent is suitable for human consumption, yet it is one of the most essential elements to our survival.
- 11. Computers First mechanical computer or automatic computing engine concept. In 1822, Charles Babbage purposed and began developing the Difference Engine, considered to be the first automatic computing engine that was capable of computing several sets of numbers and making a hard copies of the results. First programmable computer The Z1, originally created by Germany's Konrad Zuse in his parents living room in 1936 to 1938 is considered to be the first electro-mechanical binary programmable (modern) computer and really the first functional computer.
- 12. Telephone The telephone has come a long way since Alexander Graham Bell introduced it in 1876. He probably didn’t envision that more than 135 years later, it would be as indispensable to our society as it is. Nor did he imagine that it would fit in our pocket and connect us to a world of information through our fingertips.
- 13. The first words ever uttered through a telephone occurred in Bell’s lab with his assistant Thomas Watson who reported to have heard Bell saying “Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you”. The techniques which were developed by Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson had directly led to the first commercial telephone services only a year after the registration of Bell’s patent. The citizens of Boston city were the first to benefit in 1877 with the first telephones being installed. The first entered service in 1878 in New Haven. The United States boasted nearly 50,000 telephones within the first three years of commercial telephone service being available.
- 14. Information Technology Around 1980, computers with integrated circuits on a single chip started to become available as an affordable item, specifically designed for use by consumers. The first IBM PC was released in 1981. Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) appeared in the late 1980s. Information technology has also shifted from focusing on single computers to networks of computers, as the years have passed and technology has advanced.
- 15. Information technology has brought us the Internet. The web has quickly grown to become a primary choice in order for people to communicate whether it be through email or instant messaging services. Since the mid-1990s the Internet has had a drastic impact on culture and commerce, including the rise of near-instant communication by electronic mail, instant messaging, "phone calls", two-way interactive video calls, and the World Wide Web with its discussion forums, blogs, social networking, and online shopping sites. The research and education community continues to develop and use advanced networks
- 16. Builings are signs of Civilization!!!
- 17. War
- 18. According to Conway W. Henderson, "One source claims 14,500 wars have taken place between 3500 BC and the late 20th century, costing 3.5 billion lives, leaving only 300 years of peace" In War Before Civilization, Lawrence H. Keeley, a professor at the University of Illinois, says that approximately 90–95% of known societies throughout history engaged in at least occasional warfare, and many fought constantly 60,000,000–72,000,000 - World War II (1939–1945) 36,000,000 - An Shi Rebellion (China, 755–763) 30,000,000–60,000,000 - Mongol Conquests (13th century) This may be due to significant recent advances in weapons technologies
- 20. Military engineering Perhaps the first civilization to have a dedicated force of military engineering specialists were the Romans, whose army contained a dedicated corps of military engineers known as Roman military engineering The most notable engineers of ancient times were the Romans and Chinese, who constructed huge siege-machines (battering rams and siege towers)
- 22. Military technology is the collection of equipment, vehicles, structures and communication systems that are designed for use in warfare. It is common for military technology to have been researched and developed by scientists and engineers specifically for use by the armed forces. Many new technologies came as a result of the military funding of science. There are a significant number of military inventions that are technologies originally developed and designed for military purposes, and which are now used by civilians with sometimes minor or no modifications at all.
- 23. Vehicles and transports Military aviation Warships & Submarines Military robots Bomb disposal robots Unmanned ground vehicles Unmanned combat air vehicles Sensors and communications Radar Missile guidance GPS guidance in guidance weapons