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Genetic engineering, nanotechnology, astrophysics,
particle physics: We live in an engineered world, one where
the distinctions between science and engineering, technology
and research, are fast disappearing. This book shows how,
at the dawn of the twenty-first century, the goal of natural
scientists -- to discover what was not known -- and that
of engineers -- to create what did not exist -- are undergoing
an unprecedented convergence.
Sunny Y. Auyang ranges widely in demonstrating
that engineering today is not only a collaborator with science
but its equal. In concise accounts of the emergence of industrial
laboratories and chemical and electrical engineering, and
in whirlwind histories of the machine tools and automobile
industries and the rise of nuclear energy and information
technology, her book presents a broad picture of modern
engineering: its history, structure, technological achievements,
and social responsibilities; its relation to natural science,
business administration, and public policies. Auyang uses
case studies such as the development of the F-117A Nighthawk
and Boeing 777 aircraft, as well as the experiences of engineer-scientists
such as Oliver Heaviside, engineer-entrepreneurs such as
Henry Ford and Bill Gates, and engineer-managers such as
Alfred Sloan and Jack Welch to give readers a clear sense
of engineering's essential role in the future of scientific
research.
Sunny Y. Auyang, who has worked as a
research scientist at Hewlett-Packard and at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, is the author of, most recently,
Mind in Everyday Life and Cognitive Science.
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