Remarkable Engineers: From Riquet to Shannon

by Ioan James

Engineering transformed the world completely between the 17th and 21st centuries. Remarkable Engineers tells the stories of 51 of the key pioneers in this transformation, from the designers and builders of the world’s railways, bridges and aeroplanes, to the founders of the modern electronics and communications revolutions. The focus throughout is on their varied life stories, and engineering and scientific detail is kept to a minimum. Engineer profiles are organized chronologically, inviting readers with an interest in engineering to follow the path by which these remarkable engineers utterly changed our lives.

Genres: Science

218 pages, Paperback

First published February 25, 2010

About the author

Ioan Mackenzie James was a British mathematician working in the field of topology, particularly in homotopy theory.

Reviews

[Müşerref · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book focuses on 51 remarkable people’s birth, career path, contribution to engineering fields, marriage and death. I enjoyed reading it in general, but I’d like to see more about the relationship between these engineers.

[Gavin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I became interested in engineering as its own intellectual tradition and wanted to know what little-known key breakthroughs engineers have made. But compared to physics or philosophy or even applied mathematics it is not at all chronicled, canonised, or mythologised.

These men changed the world, were the precondition for all manner of political and social and intellectual change. (Consider the effect of just draining the malarial swamps on child mortality and so on the entire emotional tenor of society.) In return we give them an ignored statue and one book.

James does what he can with very sparse primary sources. But the resulting book is just a laundry list, three-quarters full of boring biographical details of marriage dates and surviving children. If they had thoughts, no one thought to preserve them.

Also he gives the (great) canal builders the same consideration as Carnot or Watt, so it's not much use for my original purpose. But I am obsessed with paying attention to wrongly ignored things and it serves for that.

[Can Arat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Babama aldığım bir kitaptı, elden geçirmeden vermedim. Kısa kısa pek çok mühendisin hayat hikayesi anlatılmış. Kronolojik bir sıraya alınmış ve benzer alanlarda çalışan insanlar da güzel gruplanmış. İlgisi olan için güzel bir ön bilgi kitabı.