Sir, – I am often frustrated by the terminology used to describe technology innovation. In many cases the terms science, applied science and ICT (information and communication technology) are used, and I wonder how the reading public interprets these terms. Do they imagine white-coated researchers in labs? Over-caffeinated coders burning the midnight oil? The IT Crowd asking “Have you tried turning it off and on again?” Although this may seem like an abstruse topic, it has real impact on how school-leavers view their career options. For example, do they know that the chips in their iPads, the Google search engine they use for homework and the skycrane that delivered Curiosity onto the Martian surface were all designed by engineers? In the latter case, the engineer that designed the skycrane (Mike Gradziel) had a degree in mechanical engineering, and this was one of his first assignments after graduation at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. To quote Neil DeGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium, on the Mars mission, “I think the greatest achievement there is not scientific but engineering”.
Another fact that may interest parents (perhaps pondering their retirement years!) is which primary degree will afford their child the maximum probability of becoming an SP 500 CEO? The answer is engineering (23 per cent), significantly higher than economics (13 per cent) and business administration (12 per cent).
So let’s call an engineer an engineer, not an ICT professional or, for that matter, a scientist. Scientists explore the natural world and discover new knowledge about the universe and how it works. Engineers apply that knowledge to solve practical problems.
To quote the great aeronautics innovator Theodore von Karman, “Scientists study the world as it is; engineers create the world that has never been.” – Yours, etc,