Engineers Who Shaped the World We Live in for the Better
It is a well-known fact that engineers are responsible for many of the innovations that we take for granted in our daily lives. Not all of the engineers who have contributed so much to society and the world at large are the household names that they deserve to be, as many preferred to work in the background and shun fame, letting their achievements speak for themselves. Others are better known either through associations with specific products or companies which brought them into the public eye.
Let’s take a look at 5 engineers who shaped the world we live in for the better.
- Andy Grove. Grove, who holds a doctorate in chemical engineering got his start in the world of computers at a company named Fairchild Semiconductor before making the leap to a startup called Intel Corporation not long after. Starting out as employee number three, it wasn’t long before he became the company’s CEO, a title he held from 1979 to 1998. During Grove’s tenure at the helm of Intel he oversaw the development of the central processing units that would power not only the personal computer revolution but also a number of other electronic products as well. Grove’s vision and influence have gone a long way towards the dream of a computer in every home and paved the path for the Internet to change the way people interact on a global basis.
- Wilbur and Orville Wright. The Wright brothers need no introduction. Their perseverance and dedication to building a machine that could sustain flight resulted in one of the defining moments in engineering history at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in 1903 when a man first took to the air in a powered airplane. The refinement of the Wrights’ aviation concepts created the modern airplane industry and radically reshaped how people traveled all around the world.
- Nikola Tesla. This prolific inventor and electrical engineer was rarely ever not inventing some new method of solving a particular problem. As an engineer, his greatest contributions came in the world of electricity, where he pioneered the theoretical concepts behind alternating current. This would become the preferred method for transmitting electrical power across the modern power grid into millions upon millions of homes. He also made huge contributions to radio science, with many considering him to be the true inventor of radio transmission and reception.
- Alexander Graham Bell. A name synonymous with the invention of the telephone, Graham Bell attended the University of Edinburgh in Scotland to hone his engineering skills. After moving to Canada, he became fascinated with the possibility of transmitting voice messages across telegraph lines, and he was able to develop what we know today as the modern telephone thanks to his relentless pursuit of engineering excellence and a solid business mind that enabled him to make the most of his invention. The instantaneous, two-way communication afforded by the telephone revolutionized society.
- Nicolaus Otto. We take automobiles – indeed, anything with an internal combustion engine – for granted, but it was Otto who came up with the idea that a four-stroke combustion cycle would produce the most efficient power while using gasoline as a fuel. Almost every car in the world still adheres to the Otto cycle when it comes time to haul its passengers from point A to point B, and the same process has been adapted to industrial and commercial machinery of all types. Otto didn’t apply his invention directly to the automotive field, but it was exploited by two other savvy German countrymen whose names still ring loudly today – Daimler and Benz.