22 Dec 2011

Isambard Kingdom Brunel needs YOU!

You ever wondered what it would be like to own a Top Trumps pack full of the Greatest Engineers of all time? Yeah so did I. So I made this...

Top Trumps - The Greatest Engineers of all time

Well actually I created 35 of them. Each with their own statistics, but not wholly accurate at the moment. Since researching the lives of each and everyone of the chosen 35 Engineers lives or reading their biographies would have taken me years, then let's get a little bit of Christmas online collaboration going!?


[Stage 1]
I have already begun the task by naming the 5 attributes by which they are to be measured. Experience [in years], this represents the years which they were in the industry of engineering. Buildability [1-100], representing technical expertise. Creativity [1-100], how inventive and concerned they were with design subtleties. Business [1-100], did they run their own business? How successful were they? Inspiration [1-100], how well were they received by piers and the public. Did they inspire a generation?


If anyone has any better ideas, then please drop me a message!


[Stage 2]
The naming of the Engineers has taken me a small amount of research - and I did not want to name only Civil and Structural Engineers. Therefore I chose a representative sample of mechanical, product design, electrical and industrial engineers to cheer up the soiree a little. 
So here they are - please give me your input.
1.Isambard K Brunel    2.Sir Marc I.Brunel    3.Steve [Wozniak] 4.Sir James Dyson   5.Robert Stephenson    6.Eugene Freyssinet    7.Nikola Tesla    8.Archimedes    9.James Watt    10.Thomas Brassey    11.The Wright Brothers    12.Henry Ford    13.Thomas Edison    14.Leonardo da Vinci   15.Gustave Eiffel    16.Sir Henry Royce    17.Sir John Fowler    18.Othmar H Ammann    19.Sir Benjamin Baker    20.Anthony Hunt    21.Sir Ove Nyquist Arup    22.Alexander Graham Bell   23.James Brindley    24.Edgar Cardoso    25.Sir John F.Baker    26.Arthur Casagrande    27.Charles de Coulomb    28.Henry Darcy    29.Dr Oscar Faber    30.Clifford Holland    31.James Buchanan Eads   32.Joseph Locke   33.Thomas Telford    34.Fazlur Rahman Khan   35.Lillian Gilbreth

[Stage 3]
Once I have set the designs from the earlier stages, the final step [and most arduous] is to set some accurate levels for the each Engineer and their attributes. 
Doing this will take some effort. I suggest the best way to enable it is to set a maximum number of top level and lower level statistics. For example; only 5 individual attributes can be set at 100. We then decide which Engineer gets them. Then we set a total of 5 attributes at the lowest level of 10, and apply them to Engineers.


Finally we arrange each of the 35 Engineers in order of their perceived value for each available attribute. 




So please try this at home over the next few weeks of the holiday season. I will do the rest. 


Finally, the open poll and debate flooding the LinkedIn Engineering Groups dealing with Pay & Status will be concluded tomorrow [currently 99 votes / 88% voting not happy]. Watch out for that one.




Engine[er]




[update - Replaced Steve with Steve] Thanks Anon.

22 comments:

  1. Surely Fazlur Rahman Kahn must be at the top (or very near) for creativity? And Telford near the top for inspiration?

    Great idea though, look forward to seeing the finished product

    ReplyDelete
  2. Absolutely Simon. I bought his biography [as written by his daughter - also a structural engineer]. Looking forward to reading about the Einstein of structural engineers.

    Thanks for your input.

    Merry Xmas

    ReplyDelete
  3. The 'Sewer King'. Great find Andrew.

    Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Like the idea of this - first post I have felt inspired to reply to!

    Please add Calatrava and Felix Candela - absolute musts for this list.

    I now am mithering about a few others that founded a host of more modern civil/structural consultancies and could qualify for the list:-

    Frischmann?
    Alan Baxter?
    Curtin?
    Price & Myers?
    Reginald Travers Morgan?

    Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great list Richard. I will update with all the new suggestions and create an online poll.

    Can you pick 5 of them and write a very short bio on them? Suggest where they might come in relation to the rest of the pack for the attributes listed above?

    Many thanks for your comment.

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  6. How about John Frederick LaTrobe Bateman. Over 50 years as a waterworks engineer

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  7. Thank you Carol! Another one to add to the list.

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  8. Nice to see that Calatrava has been nominated further up the message list. Can I suggest the late, great Peter Rice as well...

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  9. Thanks for the comment Anon. I will take a look at Peter, but we are trying to fix these names and progress the project.

    There are so many Engineers who need a mention...

    ReplyDelete
  10. Great idea, Glen. I realise I am late in the game to suggest further names, but Pier Luigi Nervi and Buckminster Fuller would look nice in the set, I think. Will happily write up their bio with a handful of others!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thank you Ed!

    I'll message you on LinkedIn what has been done already by one of the guys.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Glen - definitely a few structural engineers should be there - Eladio Dieste (a must!!), Felix Candela, Jean Prouve, Michel Virogeux, John Roebling, Frei Otto, William Owens, Francois Hennebique, Pierre Luigi Nervi, Ricardo Morandi, and Robert Maillart....contemporary engineers who must have a mention Chris Wise (Expedition) and Stephen Morley (Wembeley Stadium, Sydney Olympic Stadium).....Jörgen Schlaich

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  13. Wow, that's a lot of additional Engineers. What is great about this post is that we are uncovering so many well respected Engineers. What is unfortunate problem is that we can only use 35 for this project, and we need create not only an educational aide, but an enjoyable game too.

    I think there is a great opportunity to us all to put together an encyclopaedia of respected engineers from the past and present.

    Perhaps we can try that quest on for size once we have sorted the top trumps out :-)

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  14. What about Frank Whittle the "Father of jet propulsion", Sir Tim Berners-Lee Brit inventer of the internet, Thomas Eddison (one of your top trumps at least!), Joseph Swan, to name a few off the top of my head.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your input Alex. I will be pushing for the results of this collaboration very soon :-)

      Delete
    2. I think my geotechnics lecturer would have a heart attack. No mention of the father of soil mechanics and developer of the field of geotechnical engineering...Karl Von Terzaghi?!

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    3. Ahh another great name to add to the list. Thank you!

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  15. Stephen Tomoshenko. Assen Jordanoff. Antoni Gaudi (Gaudi's strings). Arthur Vierendeel. Francois Hennebique. It may sound strange, but Osama Bin Laden himself was engineer too.

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  16. Hi Anon. Thanks for your input :)

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  17. Great Project!!! Please check up the bio of Sir M. Visvesvaraya on wikipedia. He was the greatest engineer of India & Engineer's day is held in his honour.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Anon! Great tip off. I'll look into that.

      Glen

      Delete

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