TABLE OF CONTENTS The profession of engineering, in contrast to many others, is extremely wide ranging in the spread of topics, technologies and specializations included under the overall heading. The early engineers, the creative geniuses of their day, encompassed all these latter-day specializations, famous examples being Brunel, Stephenson and Telford. Engineers have been at the heart of all technological and scientific progress. Without them the world as we know it today would not exist.
This has been despite the fact that the UK has developed with a culture which is indifferent to engineering, the respectable professions being those such as law or medicine, offering more money and prestige. This deeply rooted British attitude was supported by an education system in which, on the whole, applied science - engineering - was not studied in schools or universities. This contrasts with the rest of Europe, where such studies were an important part of the curricula of many schools and universities as early as the eighteenth century. Engineering was not considered suitable for those with the ability to enter a British university, where arts and sciences were studied.
The need for education in engineering in the UK was met by the development of Mechanics Institutes. By the middle of the nineteenth century around 120 000 students per annum attended some...
