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The history of the Society is traced from its formation in 1771 to bring together engineers "in a friendly way". The lives of the founding members are described as well as the growing status of civil engineering. The book includes original documents and letters.
As the Mississippi and other midwestern rivers inundated town after town during the summer of 1993, concerned and angry citizens questioned whether the very technologies and structures intended to "tame" the rivers did not, in fact, increase the severity of the floods. Much of the controversy swirled around the apparent culpability of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the builder of many of the flood control systems that failed. In this book, Todd Shallat examines the turbulent first century of the dam and canal building Corps and follows the agency's rise from European antecedents through the boom years of river development after the American Civil War. Combining extensive research with a lively style, Shallat tells the story of monumental construction and engineering fiascoes, public service and public corruption, and the rise of science and the army expert as agents of the state. More than an institutional history, Structures in the Stream offers significant insights into American society, which has alternately supported the public works projects that are a legacy of our French heritage and opposed them based on the democratic, individualist tradition inherited from Britain. It will be important reading for a wide audience in environmental, military, and scientific history, policy studies, and American cultural history.
Tal Golan charts the use of expert testimony in British and American courtrooms from the 18th century to the present day. He assesses the standing of the expert witness, which has in recent years declined amid courtroom drama and media jeering.
Thomas Telford's life was extraordinary: born in the Lowlands of Scotland, where his father worked as a shepherd, he ended his days as the most revered engineer in the world, known punningly as –The Colossus of Roads”. He was responsible for some of the great works of the age, such as the suspension bridge across the Menai Straits and the mighty Pontcysyllte aqueduct. He built some of the best roads seen in Britain since the days of the Romans and constructed the great Caledonian Canal, designed to take ships across Scotland from coast to coast. He did as much as anyone to turn engineering into a profession and was the first President of the newly formed Institution of Civil Engineers. All this was achieved by a man who started work as a boy apprentice to a stonemason. rn He was always intensely proud of his homeland and was to be in charge of an immense programme of reconstruction for the Highlands that included building everything from roads to harbours and even designing churches. He was unquestionably one of Britain's finest engineers, able to take his place alongside giants such as Brunel. He was also a man of culture, even though he had only a rudimentary education. As a mason in his early days he had worked alongside some of the greatest architects of the day, such as William Chambers and Robert Adams, and when he was appointed County Surveyor for Shropshire early in his career, he had the opportunity to practice those skills himself, designing two imposing churches in the county and overseeing the renovation of Shrewsbury Castle. Even as a boy, he had developed a love of literature and throughout his life wrote poetry and became a close friend of the Poet Laureate, Robert Southey. He was a man of many talents, who rose to the very top of his profession but never forgot his roots: he kept his old masons' tools with him to the end of his days. rn There are few official monuments to this great man, but he has no need of them: the true monuments are the structures that he left behind that speak of a man who brought about a revolution in transport and civil engineering.
This book records the history of John Taylor and Sons and their predecessors. Gwilym Roberts describes civilisation as a product of engineering. In this book he demonstrates how mankind's dependence on technology goes back to the earliest civilisations, when irrigation systems enabled our ancestors to abandon a nomadic existence and when artisans produced the artefacts needed for both existence and recreation. The author acknowledges that engineers have built on the discoveries and inventions of scientists and converted the earth's natural resources into the energy and goods on which our modern civilisation entirely depends. He describes engineers as the heroes of the nineteenth century, but the unsung heroes of the twentieth who have provided modern clean water supplies, which is one of the principal reasons for our present longevity and good health. The foundations of our modern urban water supply systems had to await the technical developments of the 19th century industrial revolution and the establishment of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1818. These developments permitted such innovations as cast iron mains, steam-driven pumps, upstream abstraction, impounding reservoirs and ultimately, constant service. Chelsea to Cairois an interesting narrative on how today's water and public health engineers have continued to strive and achieve the sophisticated facilities expected by society, and the high standards demanded by legislators. In the developing world, engineers have played a major role in improving living conditions and helping governments cope with the problems caused by phenomenal population growth. From the establishment of the Chelsea Waterworks Company in 1722 to the ongoing multi-billion pound Cairo Wastewater Project, this book describes many large and small projects undertaken by John Taylor & Sons over a three hundred year period. Historians, students and practitioners in the water industry will find this book a valuable and interesting reference source. It chronicles a magical era of expansion of British engineers into overseas markets which has led to engineering design and advice becoming one of the UK's most valuable invisible exports. About the author: Gwilym Roberts joined John Taylor & Sons in 1947 and became a partner in 1956. He played a significant role in developing the firm into a major international consultancy until 1987 when John Taylor & Sons merged with Freeman Fox & Partners to form the Acer Group, where the author became founding chairman. By the time he retired in 1992 the firm had worked in nearly forty countries and staff numbers had grown to over 2,300. Gwilym Roberts was President of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1986 and appointed CBE the following year.
Written by America's most famous engineering storyteller and educator, this abecedarium is one engineer's selection of thoughts, quotations, anecdotes, facts, trivia and arcana relating to the practice, history, culture and traditions of his profession. The entries reflect decades of reading, writing, talking and thinking about engineers and engineering, and range from brief essays to lists of great engineering achievements. This work is organized alphabetically and more like a dictionary than an encyclopedia. It is not intended to be read from first page to last, but rather to be dipped into, here and there, as the mood strikes the reader. In time, it is hoped, this book should become the source to which readers go first when they encounter a vague or obscure reference to the softer side of engineering.
Miller examines Watt's illustrious engineering career in light of his parallel interest in chemistry, arguing that Watt's conception of steam engineering relied upon chemical understandings.