On Engineering IV

"The engineer must be able not only to design, but to execute. A draftsman may be able to design, but unless he is able to execute his designs to successful operation he cannot be classed as an engineer. The production engineer must be able to execute his work as he has planned it. This requires two qualifications in addition to technical engineering ability: He must know men, and he must have creative ability in applying good statistical, accounting, and 'system' methods to any particular production work he may undertake." (Hugo Diemer, "Industrial Engineering", 1905)

"An engineering science aims to organize the design principles used in engineering practice into a discipline and thus to exhibit the similarities between different areas of engineering practice and to emphasize the power of fundamental concepts. In short, an engineering science is predominated by theoretical analysis and very often uses the tool of advanced mathematics." (Qian Xuesen, "Engineering cybernetics", 1954)

"Engineering is a profession, an art of action and synthesis and not simply a body of knowledge. Its highest calling is to invent and innovate." (Hardy Cross, "Education for Innovation", 1968)

"A good scientist is a person with original ideas. A good engineer is a person who makes a design that works with as few original ideas as possible. There are no prima donnas in engineering." (Freeman J Dyson, "Disturbing the Universe", 1979)

"Engineering, like poetry, is an attempt to approach perfection. And engineers, like poets, are seldom completely satisfied with their creations. They notice, even if no one else does, the word that is not quite 'le mot juste' or the hairline crack that blemishes the structure." (Henry Petroski, "To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design", 1985)

"All of engineering involves some creativity to cover the parts not known, and almost all of science includes some practical engineering to translate the abstractions into practice." (Richard Hamming, "The Art of Doing Science and Engineering: Learning to Learn", 1991)

"Engineering is the application of scientific principles toward practical ends. If the engineering isn't practical, it's bad engineering." (Steve McConnell, "After the Gold Rush: Creating a True Profession of Software Engineering", 1999)

"All feats of engineering, whether stone dwellings or space stations, require a particular sequence of events. First, the engineer must understand the needs and wants of the society or subgroup of society that is to be served. Second, the engineer must formulate concepts of potential designs that might serve the designated needs and wants. Third, the engineer must analyze the concepts to determine their functionality. Fourth, the engineer must optimize selected candidate designs and choose a single preferred design. And fifth, the engineer must design a production system to realize the selected design." (George A Hazelrigg, "Laws and Models: An Introduction", 2000)

"Indeed, the most important part of engineering work - and also of other scientific work - is the determination of the method of attacking the problem, whatever it may be." (Charles P Steinmetz)

"Designers need to be part engineer. Good design only exists in concert with engineering. That is because form has to follow function, so you focus on function and then give the object a shape to make it appealing." (Ferdinand A Porsche)