From Herbert Hoover, mining engineer and 31st President of the United States:
The great liability of the engineer compared to men of other professions is that his works are out in the open where all can see them. His acts, step by step, are in hard substance. He cannot bury his mistakes in the grave like the doctors. He cannot argue them into thin air or blame the judge like the lawyers. He cannot, like the architects, cover his failures with trees and vines. He cannot, like the politicians, screen his sort-comings by blaming his opponents and hope the people will forget. The engineer simply cannot deny he did it. If his works do not work, he is damned.
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Mike K 01.27.10 at 04:45
Unless he proclaims “We’ll fix it in software!”
Jim Archer 01.27.10 at 14:56
During my time at the Harris County Toll Road Authority, I remember my supervisor talking about the moment that he understood what his profession (engineer) was all about. He was working for a railroad and had designed a bridge over a culvert. Several months later he was taken to a remote location where he was shown his bridge – and then watched as a train passed over his bridge at a high rate of speed. Were he wrong in any one of several calculations, the result would have been an accident and possibly fatalities. To say that he took all calculations seriously after that would be an understatement.