To Engineer is Human begins with an introduction on the role of failure in engineering design. The author states that failure in design, though devastating, can improve engineering knowledge far more than any successes can. Engineers are human, which means that they are fully capable of making mistakes. Buildings, cars, planes, and other things are designed with safety and economy in mind. These things could be built many times stronger, but would also cost much more.
Nothing we can build is perfectly safe or not susceptible to failure, but the more we see go wrong can actually help us to understand this better. In the next chapter we see how humans, no matter their training, are instinctively engineers by birth. Our senses, balance, coordination, and everything else our brain detects are far superior to any advanced equipment in our world. We grow up trusting our bodies and knowing our limits.
illustration from a book of fairy tales, the tale ...
It Pays To Be an Engineer
Primary Mirror Segment Engineering Design UnitEven the fairy tales we grew up hearing teach us that everything man-made is bound to break.
To Engineer is Human begins with an introduction on the role of failure in engineering design. The author states that failure in design, though devastating, can improve engineering knowledge far more than any successes can. Engineers are human, which means that they are fully capable of making mistakes. Buildings, cars, planes, and other things are designed with safety and economy in mind. These things could be built many times stronger, but would also cost much more.
Nothing we can build is perfectly safe or not susceptible to failure, but the more we see go wrong can actually help us to understand this better. In the next chapter we see how humans, no matter their training, are instinctively engineers by birth. Our senses, balance, coordination, and everything else our brain detects are far superior to any advanced equipment in our world. We grow up trusting our bodies and knowing our limits. Even the fairy tales we grew up hearing teach us that everything man-made is bound to break.
To Engineer is Human begins with an introduction on the role of failure in engineering design. The author states that failure in design, though devastating, can improve engineering knowledge far more than any successes can. Engineers are human, which means that they are fully capable of making mistakes. Buildings, cars, planes, and other things are designed with safety and economy in mind. These things could be built many times stronger, but would also cost much more.
Nothing we can build is perfectly safe or not susceptible to failure, but the more we see go wrong can actually help us to understand this better. In the next chapter we see how humans, no matter their training, are instinctively engineers by birth. Our senses, balance, coordination, and everything else our brain detects are far superior to any advanced equipment in our world. We grow up trusting our bodies and knowing our limits. Even the fairy tales we grew up hearing teach us that everything man-made is bound to break.
To Engineer is Human begins with an introduction on the role of failure in engineering design. The author states that failure in design, though devastating, can improve engineering knowledge far more than any successes can. Engineers are human, which means that they are fully capable of making mistakes. Buildings, cars, planes, and other things are designed with safety and economy in mind. These things could be built many times stronger, but would also cost much more.
Nothing we can build is perfectly safe or not susceptible to failure, but the more we see go wrong can actually help us to understand this better. In the next chapter we see how humans, no matter their training, are instinctively engineers by birth. Our senses, balance, coordination, and everything else our brain detects are far superior to any advanced equipment in our world. We grow up trusting our bodies and knowing our limits. Even the fairy tales we grew up hearing teach us that everything man-made is bound to break.
To Engineer is Human begins with an introduction on the role of failure in engineering design. The author states that failure in design, though devastating, can improve engineering knowledge far more than any successes can. Engineers are human, which means that they are fully capable of making mistakes. Buildings, cars, planes, and other things are designed with safety and economy in mind. These things could be built many times stronger, but would also cost much more.
Nothing we can build is perfectly safe or not susceptible to failure, but the more we see go wrong can actually help us to understand this better. In the next chapter we see how humans, no matter their training, are instinctively engineers by birth. Our senses, balance, coordination, and everything else our brain detects are far superior to any advanced equipment in our world. We grow up trusting our bodies and knowing our limits. Even the fairy tales we grew up hearing teach us that everything man-made is bound to break.
Engineering Alumni Award Luncheon 2011