describing the process to be automated as a series of simple operations
Aristotle -> Syllogism
is a set of formal procedures — the syllogism to capture the essence of rational thought
“all cats are mammals, some cats have no tails, some mammals have no tails”
Euclid
Euclid formalizes geometry as a process of proving a series of theorems from a small number of axioms
A=B
B=C
therefore, A=C
Roman Engineering
in the service of the military, “ingenium ” and roads for the cities, aqueducts and architecture for houses, glass windows and central heating
Islamic Science & Engineering
Al-Biruni (973 AD)
“the trouble with most people is their extravagance in respect of Aristotle’s opinions: they believe that there is no possibility of mistake in his views, though they know he was only theorizing to the best of his ability”
Aristotle’s #1 hater, tried to prove him wrong on everything
Tech Transfer: islam to europe, 1100-1400
roger II, king of Sicily, recruited Arab engineers to his court
Hohenstaufen kings of germany inherited Sicily and its engineers
Henry the navigator, king of portugal, used islamic astronomical knowledge to explore new lands.
Science in the renaissance
Progress in Astronomy - Copernicus
The realization of heliocentric world
Beginning of the experimental method - Bacon
(1561-1626)
roger bacon: first experimental scientist
Science and engineering still distinct; no science of steam engines
observation vs hands on
Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
founded the royal society
Thought by some to have written the plays of shakespeare
died of pneumonia contracted while inventing refrigeration
The advancement of Learning:
“For as water will not ascend higher than the level of the first springhead for which it descendeth, so knowledge derived from aristotle and exempt from liberty and examination will not rise again higher than the knowledge of aristotle.”
Proposed a new understanding of science
Industrial revolution
Technology
Laws of thermodynamics
Accelerated tech because of steam engine-
steam powered looms
factories needed more workers
England enclosure act forced people to work in factories
factories were loud and unpleasant
did this progress better societies
(luddites reject technology/machinery)
20th century science and technology
Beginning
science and technology have little in common
ie, engineering is distinct from science
Science begins to demonstrate its usefulness on the battlefields of world war one
Two branches of engineers
military
Weapons
tanks
Civil engineer
working on stuff for the people
After the industrial revolution
engineers started moving to universities
However most engineers didn’t have any degrees
henry ford
edison
wright brothers
Engineering: now and then
Cybernetics
Norbert wiener, founder of cybernetics and control
Military
WW1
better guns produce stalemates
Breaking the stale mate
Poison gas
tanks
the flamethrowers
WW2
Jet planes
first jet planes were made by Germany in 1945
this led to the v1 bomber which sparked the space age
v3 was a gas assisted super gun to launch satellites into orbit
Nuclear
1942: Enrico fermi builds the first nuclear reactor in the university of chicago squash courts
Era of nuclear bomb
huge boom of the “monster bombs”
DARPA
investigates exotic technologies that may have defense applications
3.294 billion
600 million only for societal engineering (betterment of mankind)
After wars things go from function over form to form over function
Societal
engineers goal should be acting in the best interest of humanity
Engineering education
from 1822 to 1862, rensselaer school goes from 1 year tech program to three years to 3 years with 1 year prep=4 years
society needed more engineers then they created more technical schools and mit was born
Engineering sentiment
engineering was regarded as a technology,
they weren’t respected
a lot of the negative sentiment is still around
1870: lecture system established
then the centennial exposition happened and engineering exploded in popularity
electrical engineering didn’t really exist but they were synonymous with physicists
1893 Engineering viewed as a legit form of higher education
