Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!wuarchive!udel!rochester!rit!cs.rit.edu!mjl From: mjl@cs.rit.edu (Michael J Lutz) Newsgroups: comp.software-eng Subject: Re: Bridge building & engineering professionalism Message-ID: <2278@cs.rit.edu> Date: 23 Apr 91 17:29:30 GMT References: <33407@mimsy.umd.edu> Sender: news@cs.rit.edu Reply-To: mjl@cs.rit.edu Followup-To: comp.software-eng Organization: Rochester Institute of Technology Lines: 46 In article <33407@mimsy.umd.edu>, cml@tove.cs.umd.edu (Christopher Lott) writes: > In article jls@rutabaga.Rational.COM (Jim Showalter) writes: > >.... until the 1800's, HALF of all bridges built fell down. > > > uh, half? But I don't know any better. From Blaming Technology: The Irrational Search for Scapegoats Samuel C. Forman. St. Martin's Press, NY, 1981. p. 184 When I turned from steamboats to railroads I found another long-forgotten story of catastrophe. Not only were there problems with the trains themselves, but the roadbeds, and particularly the bridges, made even the shortest train journey a hazardous adventure. In the late 1860s more than 25 American bridges were collapsing each year, with appalling loss of life. In 1873 the American Society of Civil Engineers set up a special commission to address the problem, and eventually the safety of our bridges came to be taken for granted. The book's a good read. Florman is a civil engineer, and also the author of The Existential Pleasures of Engineering -- another book I recommend. In addition to this quote on civil engineering practices in the mid-19th century, he has many other provocative things to say. Here's another sample, on engineering professionalism, compared to law, medicine, etc. (pp. 150-51): What sort of profession is this in which three-quarters of the members are merely graduates of four-year college courses? (And fewer than half take the trouble to obtain state licenses or to join professional societies?) Are all engineers authentic professionals, or only a few? Indeed, is engineering a profession or only a quasi-profession? --------- Mike Lutz Rochester Institute of Technology Rochester, NY 14623-0887 mjl@cs.rit.edu