What is an engineer?

Engineers design materials, structures, and systems while considering the limitations imposed
by practicality, regulation, safety, and cost. The foundation education of an engineer is
typically a 4-year bachelor's degree or in some countries, a master's degree in an engineering
discipline plus 46 years peer-reviewed professional practice culminating in a project report or
thesis. The work of engineers forms the link between scientific discoveries and their
subsequent applications to human and business needs and quality of life. A professional
engineer is competent by virtue of his/her fundamental education and training to apply the
scientific method and outlook to the analysis and solution of engineering problems. He/she is
able to assume personal responsibility for the development and application of engineering
science and knowledge, notably in research, design, construction, manufacturing,
superintending, managing and in the education of the engineer. His/her work is predominantly
intellectual and varied and not of a routine mental or physical character. It requires the
exercise of original thought and judgement and the ability to supervise the technical and
administrative work of others. His/her education will have been such as to make him/her
capable of closely and continuously following progress in his/her branch of engineering science
by consulting newly published works on a worldwide basis, assimilating such information and
applying it independently. He/she is thus placed in a position to make contributions to the
development of engineering science or its applications. His/her education and training will
have been such that he/she will have acquired a broad and general appreciation of the
engineering sciences as well as thorough insight into the special features of his/her own
branch. In due time he/she will be able to give authoritative technical advice and to assume
responsibility for the direction of important tasks in his/her branch.

What is engineering?

Engineering is the application of mathematics and scientific, economic, social, and practical
knowledge in order to invent, innovate, design, build, maintain, research, and improve
structures, machines, tools, systems, components, materials, processes, solutions, and
organizations. The discipline of engineering is extremely broad and encompasses a range of
more specialized fields of engineering, each with a more specific emphasis on particular areas
of applied science, technology and types of application. Engineering has existed since ancient
times as humans devised fundamental inventions such as the wedge, lever, wheel and pulley.
Each of these inventions is essentially consistent with the modern definition of
engineering.The term engineering is derived from the word engineer, which itself dates back
to 1390 when an engine'er (literally, one who operates an engine) originally referred to "a
constructor of military engines."[5] In this context, now obsolete, an "engine" referred to a
military machine, i.e., a mechanical contraption used in war (for example, a catapult). Notable
examples of the obsolete usage which have survived to the present day are military
engineering corps, e.g., the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.The word "engine" itself is of even
older origin, ultimately deriving from the Latin ingenium (c. 1250), meaning "innate quality,
especially mental power, hence a clever invention.Later, as the design of civilian structures
such as bridges and buildings matured as a technical discipline, the term civil engineering
entered the lexicon as a way to distinguish between those specializing in the construction of
such non-military projects and those involved in the older discipline of military engineering.
What is a mechanical engineering?

Mechanical engineering is the discipline that applies the principles of engineering, physics, and
materials science for the design, analysis, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical
systems. It is the branch of engineering that involves the design, production, and operation of
machinery. It is one of the oldest and broadest of the engineering disciplines.

The mechanical engineering field requires an understanding of core areas including mechanics,
kinematics, thermodynamics, materials science, structural analysis, and electricity. Mechanical
engineers use these core principles along with tools like computer-aided design, and product
lifecycle management to design and analyze manufacturing plants, industrial equipment and
machinery, heating and cooling systems, transport systems, aircraft, watercraft, robotics,
medical devices, weapons, and others.

Mechanical engineering emerged as a field during the Industrial Revolution in Europe in the
18th century; however, its development can be traced back several thousand years around the
world. Mechanical engineering science emerged in the 19th century as a result of
developments in the field of physics. The field has continually evolved to incorporate
advancements in technology, and mechanical engineers today are pursuing developments in
such fields as composites, mechatronics, and nanotechnology. Mechanical engineering
overlaps with aerospace engineering, metallurgical engineering, civil engineering, electrical
engineering, manufacturing engineering, chemical engineering, industrial engineering, and
other engineering disciplines to varying amounts. Mechanical engineers may also work in the
field of biomedical engineering, specifically with biomechanics, transport phenomena,
biomechatronics, bionanotechnology, and modeling of biological systems.