Martin Cooper should get a lot of respect; he invented the cell phone. But how many people know that?
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To hear some engineers tell it, they feel a lot like Rodney Dangerfield. They don’t get no respect. We’ll see. Today, on Engineering Works! Listen to the podcast.
It’s pop quiz time. Name two famous scientists. If you pay attention to science at all, it’s easy. Albert Einstein. Stephen Hawking. We know Einstein for the theory of relativity. Hawking for his work in cosmology. There are lots more.
Now for a tough one. Give us two famous engineers. Not so easy, is it? That’s a problem for a lot of engineers. And it sounds silly, but a lot of the top engineers are leaving the profession for jobs where they’ll be better known. And make more money. Doctor. Lawyer. Corporate manager.
A lot of engineers should be famous. They’ve had huge impacts on our lives, now and in the future. Here’s a few. Start with Neil Armstrong, first person to step onto the Moon. An aerospace engineer. Grace Hopper, who invented the COBOL computer language and the first compiler. Burt Rutan designed and built the first airplane to fly around the world without refueling or stopping. Aeronautical engineer.
Now, a really important one. Martin Cooper. Electrical engineer. He invented the cell phone. Where would you be without him? NASCAR driver Ashton Lewis is a mechanical engineer.
So. Now you know. It’s up to you to make them famous.
We’ve had all the fame we can take and we’re going home. See you next time.
Engineering Works! is made possible by Texas A&M Engineering and produced by KAMU-FM in College Station.
Tags: Computers, Cosmology, Engineering, Hawking, Stephen W., Jobs
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