Re: engineers and religious fanaticism

On Feb 19, 11:25 am, Jim Willemin <jim***willemin@hot***mail.com>
wrote:
chris thompson <chris.linthomp...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in news:71cadf14-
ef65-4715-823a-edc4dd5a8...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx:

<snip>

And yet many scientists have to be part-engineer. I can attest to this
in field biologists- if you spend any time at all in the field you had
better be able to repair your gear, fix your vehicle, and do any
number of things that fall into the "engineer" category rather than
the "scientists" category. (Perhaps /s/stereotype/category/) In fact
in the lab, too, biologists (I can't speak for anyone else) had better
have a decent working knowledge of electricity, electronics,
computers, and a host of other things that fall under that rubric
also. I assume chemists and physicists are even more heavily dependent
on their ability to interface with complex gear than biologists.

Chris

Well, Chris, that is more being a good technician than an engineer per
se - I still recall the rather pointed lecture I was read by one of the
engineering types when I was at MIT in the late 70s - I had made the
error of making a similar remark in his hearing, and was soon given to
understand, in no uncertain terms, that fiddling with equipment, fixing
stuff, and generally making things work is NOT engineering - engineering
is the application of knowledge of materials and forces in the creation
of useful artifacts in an optimal manner, specifying both design and
materials, and is absolutely NOT jury-rigging a bit of apparatus from
what you have on hand in order to get a job done, and holy cow, this is
still one sentence, my apologies to all. Just thought I should mention
that, lest anyone get miffed (though I agree with you wholeheartedly).

I think you're correct as far as most of what I said. However, I think
you're putting superfluous additions onto your definition. A good
engineer can get things done under suboptimal conditions, with less
than the designed components. Yes, it's rule-of-thumb engineering, but
lots of scientists have to deal with the issue that the item they
really really need isn't available, costs too much, or cannot be
delivered on time. So they design it and build it out of crackers and
door hinges.

Chris

.

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