On Machine Design's 80th Anniversary, the editors take stock, asking several experts what changes the engineering profession has gone through and what has stayed the same. Herbert Hoover used to tell of meeting a woman on a ship while traveling. After several conversations over a week or so, the woman asked what his occupation was. Hoover told her he was an engineer, a mining engineer. And the woman replied, "An engineer? I thought you were a gentleman." It seems the lady, like many people of her time, assumed engineering was not a gentlemanly career. This lack of respect from society still galls many in engineering, especially compared to the public adulation (or at least high salaries) given to doctors, lawyers, and scientists. "Part of the respect problem is that the personality of the average engineer and the way they are taught does not bring out the best as far as earning respect from society," says Henry Petroski, a professor of civil engineering and history at Duke University, and author of several books on engineering. "Engineers tend to be shy, and not very talkative, unless you're discussing their latest project or some aspect of engineering that interests them. In history and traditions of their professions." One early high point for engineers was Britain's Victorian Age when a popular series of books, , was written by Samuel Miles. "These were biographies of famous engineers who were held up as paragons of virtue and achievement, and as true gentlemen." says Petroski. One reason engineers may not get the respect they deserve is that they always seem to be working in the shadows of scientists and leaving the public unsure what engineers really do, besides drive trains. "The public just isn't too savvy. They confuse science and engineering, almost always to the detriment of engineers," says Edward Pershey, vice president of special projects at the Western Reserve Historical Society with a Ph.D. in the history of technology. "A scientist's goal is to uncover new information about how the world works. Engineers take this knowledge and solve problems." "Look at the Manhattan Project, which was reported more as a scientific achievement rather than an engineering challenge," notes Petroski. "Scientists were definitely involved, but due to their personalities — their stronger egos and eagerness to talk about themselves — they got most of the credit. And after World War II, scientists had much more authority in controlling public policy relating to science and technology all the way up through the Apollo Project, which was even more of an engineering project than building the atom bomb. Engineers in the early days of the space race used to tell the story that when a rocket launched successfully, it was called a scientific breakthrough. But if it exploded on the pad or shortly thereafter, it was called an engineering failure. "Engineers probably should have gotten incensed about how they were treated, but because of their personalities, they just went back to the drawing boards," says Petroski. One move engineers took back in the mid-1800s to increase their stature in society was to form professional organizations. Eventually this grew into the Professional Engineers license in the early to mid-1900s, a way to ensure only those educated and trained in orthodox engineering could call themselves engineers. "It was a way to regulate the profession and to give more respect to 'real' engineers," says Petroski. With some states, it took a disaster and loss of life before anything was done to ensure only qualified people could legally call themselves engineers. In Texas, for example, the New London public school was destroyed when its gas-fired boiler exploded. At least 295 students and teachers were killed and many others left injured and maimed. This tragedy spurred Texas to pass a registration law requiring those wanting to call themselves engineers to meet certain requirements and become licensed. (The accident also led to the requirement that ethyl mercaptan, a substance that smells like rotten eggs, be added to natural gas to give the odorless fuel a telltale smell, one that would alert most people to a gas leak.) "So now each state has its own definition of what it takes to be an engineer, which is similar to doctors and lawyers who must be licensed to practice in a particular state." Needless to say, PE licensing has not garnered much respect for engineers over the last half century. This might be due to companies like GE and Lockheed that hire lots of engineers but haven't been too keen on PE licensing. "Companies didn't want to lose control of their employees and have them form unions," says Petroski. "They might have thought those with PE licenses would want more money and perhaps more say in how they did their jobs. As a result of this pressure from companies and no organization on engineers' part, there has been little legislation requiring a PE license for engineering jobs and projects." "Engineers are treated differently in other countries, especially non-English speaking countries," notes Petroski. There, engineers are recognized for keeping civilization on track and raising the quality of life. They are given credit for the roads, bridges, and water and sewage systems, as well as all the new electronic devices. In America, people seem to just take all those advances for granted. Petroski also points to a common practice in Germany, as well as in South American countries, which is to use "Engineer" as an honorific, much like the titles Doctor or Reverend. "In Germany, for example, you might be introduced to Engineer Schmitt. Back around the 1920s, an engineer named David Steinman, an important bridge builder who wanted engineers to get more respect, tried to institute a similar etiquette in the U.S. He was also the first president of the National Society of Professional Engineers. Steinman pushed for engineers to use that term, Engr., in front of their names. He would even sign every
