Henry Petroski is the Aleksandar S. Vesic Professor of Civil Engineering and a professor of history at Duke University. Besides the two books featured in his Rorotoko interviews, The Essential Engineer and The Toothpick, he has also authored thirteen others, including To Engineer Is Human, Design Paradigms, Engineers of Dreams, Invention by Design, The Evolution of Useful Things, Small Things Considered, and Success through Failure. Henry Petroski is a Distinguished Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers of Ireland, and an Elected Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the U.S. National Academy of Engineering.
The Essential Engineer is about the similarities and differences between scientists and engineers, and between science and engineering, and how they relate to contemporary technological issues. The book provides historical background to the distinctions between science and engineering and considers their relevance for solving today’s global problems.I emphasize that science, in its purest form, working alone, is not likely to solve problems relating to climate and energy issues; it is important for science and engineering to work together in meeting the technological challenges that face the world.The Essential Engineer also describes opportunities that have been presented to scientists and engineers today in the form of a host of challenges and prizes offered to stimulate research and development in important areas of need. (These range from the mundane, say the search for a more efficient battery, to the exotic, say space travel and exploration as private enterprise.)
Henry Petroski The Essential Engineer: Why Science Alone Will Not Solve Our Global Problems Alfred A. Knopf288 pages, 9 x 6 inches ISBN 978 0307272454
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