Topic VII. DEVELOPMENT OF ENGINEERING AND THE PROFESSION OF ENGINEERING IN RUSSIA IN THE 19TH CENTURY
In Peter's and post-Petrine times, the engineering profession entered a new stage of its development with ever-increasing acceleration. However, this was not enough for huge Russia. In addition, industrial development was more uneven. The textile industry developed quite quickly; in heavy industry, technical progress proceeded at a snail's pace.
The Russian Empire entered the 19th century with complex baggage. The old relations of production have come into clear discord with the development of the economy. The defeat in the Crimean War showed the backwardness of the country, the inability of tsarism to manage and mobilize the economy to wage war and provide for the army. All this urgently put on the agenda the need for fundamental changes in all spheres of life: in the economy, education, military affairs, finance, the court and city systems, etc.
Consideration of the features of the development of engineering, the engineering profession as one of the main aspects of the development of industrial production is the purpose of this lecture.
1. Increasing needs for expanding engineering activities in Russia.
2. Features of the formation of the Russian engineering corps.
The first half of the 19th century is characterized by the fact that many industries of the Russian Empire were still in an embryonic, more precisely, “embryonic” state, or did not progress at all, remaining at a low technological level, despite the fact that a technical revolution was underway in Europe, there were The prerequisites for the industrial revolution were created and its initial stages advanced.
Russia's share in the world production of cast iron, steel, etc. decreased. If in the 30s Russia smelted 12% of the total world production of cast iron, then in 1859 its share accounted for only 4%. The export of pig iron abroad also fell significantly - from 1795 to 1860 it decreased by 4.5 times. This was caused by an “excess” of government tutelage and serf labor. The machines and tools of these industries were the same as they were in use almost at the beginning of the 18th century.
The workers were assigned to the factory, like serfs. No benefits could replace the main condition for industrial progress - freedom of labor. In such conditions, there was almost no need for engineers. The main innovation incentive in the civilian sector of the economy was the directive pressure that was so familiar to us until recently, which recommended encouraging invention and entrepreneurial activity.
In order to revive the process of industrial development, on July 17, 1812, the government issued a Manifesto on Privileges for Various Inventions and Discoveries in the Arts, which introduced a new meaning to the concept of “privilege.” If earlier the privilege was given for the construction of a new plant or factory, now it is for a new discovery or invention. Thus, the first incentive for creative engineering began to function, which could now be paid for.
In reality, obtaining privileges for an invention was quite difficult. This process was associated with overcoming bureaucratic barriers, as well as with insufficiently clear wording of documents, in particular, articles of the Manifesto. Thus, no distinction was made between discovery, invention and improvement; liability for incomplete description of the invention is not determined; the issuance of privileges involves a complex paper procedure, so obtaining it took at least six months.
In factories, machine labor was not the dominant form of labor. Backward technology and the use of forced labor of possession and patrimonial artisans reduced the function of technological control to a minimum. Many factories did not have engineers until 1917.
But the function of simple supervision was extremely developed wherever non-economic coercion was used. In 1807, the “Regulations” were adopted, which established, among others, the following categories of craftsmen at factories: foremen (with the functions of the current foremen), centurions (“twins” of our foremen) and foremen (something like the head of the workshop).
These, in Marx’s words, “non-commissioned officers of industry” were recruited from the “indispensable workers” themselves, i.e. from the workers. There were no special qualification requirements for them, except, apparently, significant work experience.
Since we associate the emergence of an institutionalized profession with the development of capitalist forms of economic management and the emergence of classes of entrepreneurs and hired workers, in order to chronologically determine the moment from which the modern engineer begins, it is necessary to answer the question of when in Russia the transition from manual labor to machine labor was completed, from manufactory to factory.
The famous Soviet historian Academician N. M. Druzhinin wrote: “Machines appeared at individual enterprises at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries, but during the first thirty years of the 19th century. the spread of machinery was sporadic, unstable and could not shake the dominance of small-scale production and large-scale manufacture. Only from the mid-30s began to be observed the simultaneous and continuous introduction of machines into various branches of industry, in some more quickly, in others - slower and less efficient"1. This sporadic nature of the use of machines until the second half of the 19th century. (and in some industries later) determined the role of engineers in the system of social division of labor, their place in the organization of production. The extreme unevenness of technical progress, moving in rapid leaps in some industries and slowly creeping in others, created a situation where in the most modern enterprises engineering personnel were numerous and heterogeneous in their specialization, while in backward sectors of the economy “no one really knew about engineering.” "
In most sectors of large industry by the 80s. The industrial revolution was completed, the transition to the factory, which began back in the 30-40s. This gave a significant impetus to the industrial development of the country. The smelting of cast iron, which was called the “bread of industry,” developed rapidly. In 1867, the Urals produced 11 million poods of pig iron, or 65% of its smelting in the country, and the South was just beginning its smelting (56 thousand poods, or 0.3%). The Urals retained primacy until 1887, when it smelted 23.8 million poods, or 63.5%. But the South developed faster - by this time it began to produce 74 times more pig iron (4.2 million poods). In the 90s, the South came out on top. In 1887, the factories of the South smelted 46.4 million poods, or 828 times more than the level of 1867. This amounted to 40.4% of all pig iron in the country. The Urals in 1897 gave 41.2 million poods, or 35.8%.
In 1870, Russia smelted 2.9% of the world's iron production, and in 1894 - 5.1%. In 10 years (1886-1896), iron smelting accelerated (the USA took a similar step in 23 years, England in 22 years, France in 28 years and Germany in 12 years). Coal and oil production developed at the fastest pace in the world. Over 30 years (1867-1897), coal production increased 25 times (from 28 to 684 million poods). Oil production in the mid-60s. was still almost not developed (557 thousand poods), in 1870 it amounted to 1.7 million poods (an increase of 3 times), and in 1895 384 million poods were produced (an increase of 226 times over 25 years) .
Russia has taken first place in the world in terms of the pace of development of heavy industry. The high pace was explained by the fact that the development of capitalism in young countries was accelerated by technical assistance and the example of old countries, the opportunity to use foreign capital, equipment, and technical personnel. But Russia's lag by 1861 was so great that it was impossible to catch up by the mid-90s. advanced countries, it failed, despite its gigantic scale.
The completion of the industrial revolution created real conditions for the industrialization of the country. Russia switched to it later than other advanced countries. Industrialization has already completed in England; they were close to this at the end of the 19th century. Germany and USA. As in other countries, industrialization began with light industry in the middle of the 19th century. From it, funds flowed into heavy industries.
The growth of mechanical engineering, increased import of cars, technical re-equipment of factories - all this required trained personnel. From 1860 to 1896, the number of machine-building plants increased from 99 to 544 (5.5 times), and the number of workers at them from 11,600 to 85,445, i.e. by 7.4 times, which indicates the predominance of large factories among newly established ones. Such large machine-building enterprises were built as the Obukhov steel and cannon plant, the Nobel mechanical plant in Petrograd, the locomotive plant in Kolomna, and two years later - Kharkov and Lugansk, the cannon and mechanical plant in Perm, the machine-building plant in Odessa, etc. Since 1875 By 1892, the number of steam engines in the country doubled, and their power tripled. Not only the import of cars increased, but also of engineers, highly skilled workers and even entire factories (for example, a new pipe-rolling plant was ordered and transported to the USA).
An important indicator of the development of industrialization (capitalist relations) in Russia is the share of free labor in the structure of the industrial labor force. According to the 1897 census, industrial workers accounted for 52% of all those employed in this sector of the economy, in transport and trade - only 29%, and in agriculture - only 15%. The rest of the employed are artisans, handicraftsmen, and day laborers. Thus, even at the end of the 19th century. the civilian labor force did not exceed a third of all employees. In addition, it should be taken into account that the statistics of that time, as noted by academician S. G. Strumilin, “counted among the “factories” extremely small ones on our modern scale, establishments like tanneries, which in 1804 accounted for over a third of all recorded “factories” with an average number of workers in each of no more than seven”1.
Just as in other European countries, the Russian intelligentsia in general and the engineering intelligentsia in particular did not represent an independent economic class, but were in the service of the dominant one, i.e. bourgeoisie. The socio-political views of engineers mimicked under the influence of her immediate interests. Social origin, which differed in some special features compared to the Western European standard, where the intelligentsia represented a more mature socio-professional group with a significantly greater share of the process of self-reproduction, also had a significant impact on the nature of this position. In Russia, the recruitment channels were numerous, and the percentage of self-reproduction was not so significant, due to the fact that the acute shortage of highly qualified technical specialists could not be covered not only through self-reproduction, but also due to class restrictions. However, the process of democratization of the social selection of engineers encountered many barriers: existing traditions of reproduction of the social structure, which condemned the transition from one group to another; property qualification in the form of tuition fees at universities; legal advantages for admission to universities for persons of noble origin, etc.
The acute shortage of engineers, hampering the development of the country's productive forces and slowing down the process of labor concentration, was made up for in several ways:
1) import of foreign specialists, continuing until the middle of the 19th century;
2) forced assumption by the manufacturer of the functions of an engineer;
3) weak control over the availability of formal certificates of specialist qualifications, which made it possible to use persons without special education as engineers and technicians. The percentage of practitioners at industrial enterprises was 93 in 1885, and 96.8 in 1889.
Generally speaking, the proportion of practitioners (i.e., persons who have not received the special education necessary to fill a given position) is an important characteristic of the state of the profession, showing not only the degree of closedness or openness of the group, the rigidity of the mechanism regulating its reproduction, but also the degree of institutionalization, and also compliance of the current education system with social needs. There are examples of professional groups that traditionally do not include practitioners - these are doctors, pharmacists, military specialists, etc. Strict control over the competence of their members in these professions was introduced back in the 17th century. Thus, despite freedom of trade and occupation, in European countries, maintaining a pharmacy required special permission from the authorities, which was given only to persons who had passed testing in pharmacological societies.
Such restrictions on the right to engage in a certain type of work were established in the interests of personal and public safety and were established only in those industries where incompetence was fraught with the death of a person or state.
The right to engineering work was not subject to such restrictions for a very long time - until the 19th century. This was due, firstly, to the position of engineers in the army, which was not entirely defined and not even entirely mandatory. Secondly, professional institutions regulating the reproduction of the group did not appear immediately, only in the 18th century, when the engineering troops received a somewhat proper organization with a clearly defined type of career for a military engineer.
Since the profession of a military engineer has a longer history than a similar civilian specialty, control of competence in the army accordingly arose earlier. It should also be said that, in addition, the degree of risk in the case of a specialist’s performance during war is always higher than in civilian sectors of the economy. Let us add that the army in general has a more inherent spirit of regulation and rigidity of the entire organizational structure, which even created insurmountable obstacles for penetration into the group of practitioners who did not have official certificates of graduation from educational institutions of the required profile.
The massive size of the group of civil engineers, the significant share of simple supervision and management functions that do not require special training, the rapid pace of numerical growth - all this created the prerequisites for the openness of the profession, removing barriers to the path of amateurs or experienced practitioners.
In the history of the development of Russian industry in the 19th century, there are many examples of the fruitful activities of experienced self-taught practitioners and engineers. These include the activities of Pyotr Akindinovich Titov, who became a major ship builder, manager and chief engineer of the shipyard, who built such famous ships as the corvette Vityaz and the battleship Navarin. Among them we can name the Volga mechanic V.I. Kalashnikov. Having graduated from only three classes of the Uglich district school, he became a great expert in mechanical engineering directly in production, and achieved outstanding success in improving steam engines on Volga steamships. V.I. Kalashnikov owns about 80 printed works, in which he acted as an outstanding engineer and innovator of shipbuilding.
Social composition of Russian engineers of the 19th century. remained very colorful. In the army, a significant part of the engineering corps were the children of hereditary nobles. Military service, even in the post-reform years, traditionally continued to be considered a prestigious occupation. However, the system of training military specialists did not provide a sufficient influx of people of noble origin. The government was forced to use educated non-commissioned officers as a permanent recruiting channel, thereby injecting fresh streams of democratic classes into the ranks of the privileged, corporately closed engineering. Further democratization of the composition of the engineering corps was associated with the introduction of universal conscription in 1874, which entailed changes in the rules for admission to military schools, where people of all classes were now enrolled. The share of nobles in military educational institutions increasingly showed a downward trend.
The development of capitalism in Russia, the growth of industry and the concentration of labor made it necessary to significantly increase the number of engineers and technicians employed in civil industries. However, in the first half of the 19th century. this type of activity did not enjoy special respect in the upper classes. Despite all the efforts of the government to expand the network of higher technical educational institutions, there was an acute shortage of highly qualified personnel in the country. This forced the reduction of requirements for the class and nationality of applicants for the title of engineer. Just as in the army, the command structure of industry underwent democratic changes: many colleges and polytechnics, previously privileged, were formally declared non-class. This was one of the measures to expand the number of engineers in accordance with the growing needs of the developing industry.
Another measure aimed at meeting the ever-growing need for engineers continued to be the import of foreign specialists to Russia. Foreign capital had a significant influence on the development of Russian industry thanks to the policy of protectionism. In 1850, foreign cars worth 2.3 million rubles were imported into the country, in 1859 it was already 11 million rubles, in 1870 - 37.5 million rubles, in 1880 - 67.3 million.
In 1875, 90% of Russia's machine park was of foreign origin. This situation practically remained until the beginning of the First World War. The reasons for the insufficient development of machine tool industry in the country lay in the weak metallurgical base of Russia, the lack of incentives for the development of machine tool industry, the duty-free import of machine tools from abroad, as well as the shortage of engineers and experienced machine tool workers.
This does not mean that machines were not produced in Russia at all. Such large factories as Kiev, Motovilikha (Perm), Nobel, Bromley brothers and others produced machines of their own design: lathes, drilling, boring and planing. At the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th centuries. At the Kharkov Locomotive Plant, universal radial drilling and slotting-drilling-milling machines of an original design were created.
The lack of a sufficient number of engineering personnel hampered the development of machine tool industry. In this regard, the following data is interesting. In the European part of Russia in 1885, out of 20,322 heads of large and medium-sized enterprises, only 3.5% had special technical education, in 1890 - 7%, in 1895 - 8%. In 1890, 1,724 foreigners worked as factory directors, of which 1,119 did not have a technical education. The famous economist of the 19th century, Professor P.K. Khudyakov, in one of his works provides the following data: “In relation to mechanical engineering in 1892, the distribution of managers of mechanical plants with a turnover of more than 1000 rubles. was expressed in the following number of percentages... Russians - technicians 35.1%, non-technicians 43.6%, foreigners - technicians 12.9%, non-technicians 8.4%.” He further concludes: “As long as industry remains in the hands of non-technicians and especially foreigners, it cannot have independent, correct and lasting development.”1
M. Gorky writes about the same feature of Russian industry in an essay about the All-Russian Exhibition of 1896: “First of all, the machine department is striking in the absence of Russian names in it, a fact that has been noted in print more than once. Manufacturers of Russian cars and employers in the field of this branch of Russian labor are French, British, Germans and then Poles. Russian surnames are completely unnoticeable in the mass of such as Lilpop, Bromlin, Pohl, Oritsner, Gamper, Liszt, Bormann and Shwede, Pfor, Reppgan and so on.”2
The talented Russian engineer A.I. Delvig recalled: “It occurred to me that almost everywhere the bosses were Germans, and when they elected a Russian, they would still give him a German as an assistant.”
Russian industry was divided into two sectors: domestic and concession. Foreign entrepreneurs did not hire Russian specialists to their factories, not trusting their qualifications and trying to preserve the secrets of technology. Engineers for such enterprises were usually sent from abroad.
Even in such a seemingly official document, which was called “Draft of a general normal plan for industrial education in Russia,” the situation associated with the dominance of foreign specialists is reflected: “One cannot help but take into account that we still have technical specialists in large industrial institutions and The craftsmen in charge of individual parts of production are for the most part foreigners, who only in the most rare, exceptional situations treat native Russians favorably who want to acquire practical knowledge in the workshop that can make them capable of replacing foreigners.”1
Finally, in the second half of the 19th century. the desire to overcome the strong dependence of Russian industry on foreign specialists prompted the government to pay attention to the development of a system of higher technical education in the country.
One of the oldest technical educational institutions in Russia was the Mining Institute, founded back in 1773 by Catherine II. In 1804 it was transformed into the Mountain Cadet Corps. Children of mountain officers and officials who knew arithmetic, reading, and writing in Russian, German and French were accepted here. In addition, children of nobles and manufacturers were accepted at their own expense. In addition to general educational and technical knowledge, the corps provided good secular training. Pupils studied music, dancing, and fencing. The training was militarized, the discipline was strict.
The mountain cadet corps was considered one of the most prestigious educational institutions, and, as A. Loransky, author of a historical essay on the Mining Institute, notes, “the largest part of the students entered the corps not with the goal of completing the full course and becoming mountain officers, but mainly way in order to receive a good general gymnasium education... In a word, the Mountain Corps turned out to be the best of the St. Petersburg “noble boarding houses,” but as a special higher educational institution in the mountainous region, it stood out little.”2
Mining engineers were a particularly privileged group in the 19th century. Officials of the corps of mining engineers represented a special caste and occupied only leadership positions in the industry. Here is a fact that speaks of the special position of mining engineers: in the table of ranks, “civilian ranks generally give way to military officers,” who, “by the right of military ranks, have seniority over civil or class officials of the same rank as themselves... Mining officials... are equal to military ranks and enjoy all their advantages." In 1891, there were only 603 certified mining engineers in Russia.
Mining engineers, unlike other civilian ranks, wore military-style uniforms. They had a special title: the highest mountain rank - Oberbergauptmann - corresponded to the 5th class (state councilor); berghauptman - to a collegiate adviser or colonel; Chief Bergmeister - to the court councilor; bergmeister - to the collegiate assessor; surveyor - to the titular adviser; Shichtmeister – lower, 13th or 14th grade.
The shortage of engineering personnel led to strict regulation of their distribution and use after graduation from a higher educational institution. Thus, while university graduates were freely accepted into the civil service, graduates of the Mining Institute were obliged to work in their specialty for 10 years; it was forbidden to transfer such specialists to another department. The law of 1833 also regulated careers: when vacancies became vacant, it was prescribed that they be replaced by employees of the same enterprise, which prevented staff turnover and stimulated the good work of engineers. In addition to a university diploma confirming professional competence, engineers received patents for civil rank, if they served, or academic degrees (candidate, master, doctor).
By the law of 1857, the assignment of graduates of technical colleges to their acquired specialty extended, in addition to the Institute of the Corps of Mining Engineers, to a number of educational institutions: the Moscow Palace School of Architecture, the Institute of the Corps of Communications, the Construction School of the Main Directorate of Communications and Public Buildings.
“Upon graduation, students of these institutions receive class ranks with the obligation to devote themselves to a certain type of service completely or only for a certain number of years,”1 which for mining engineers should be at least 10, and for architectural assistants (i.e. graduates of architectural schools) - at least four.2 Only after the specified number of years did engineers receive a certificate. Persons without certificates were allowed to fill lower positions in mining (i.e. conductors, draftsmen, etc.) only if they passed a special exam at the Institute of the Corps of Mining Engineers.
In 1857, there were six technical colleges in Russia: the Nikolaev Main Engineering School, the Mikhailovsky Artillery School, the Naval Cadet Corps, the Institute of the Corps of Railway Engineers, the Institute of the Corps of Mining Engineers, and the Construction School of the Main Directorate of Railways and Public Buildings.
In addition to the Mining Institute, the Institute of Railway Engineers, opened in St. Petersburg in 1810, also had a privileged position. In 1823, the institute was transformed into a paramilitary closed educational institution, and in 1849 - into the Cadet Corps, where only children of hereditary nobles
In the second half of the 19th century, a number of technical universities opened in response to the needs of developing industry. Thus, the Moscow Higher Technical School (1868), the St. Petersburg Technological Institute (1828), Tomsk University (1888), the Technological Institute in Kharkov (1885) and others were opened. These educational institutions were more democratic in their status and composition.
The St. Petersburg Institute of Technology was indicative in this list. It had two departments: mechanical and chemical. Graduates who completed the full course with satisfactory grades received knowledge of a 2nd category technologist and left the taxable state; those who graduated “successfully” – 1st category technologist and the title of honorary personal citizen. By the end of the 19th century. graduates of the Technological Institute achieved the right to enter the civil service, i.e. receive ranks of no more than 10th grade, depending on academic performance.
Somewhat later, i.e. in 1906, women's polytechnic courses were opened in St. Petersburg. Their discovery was an important event for the development of the engineering profession in Russia. This was a reaction to the growing shortage of specialists, on the one hand, and to the surge in the movement for the emancipation of women, on the other. Under the onslaught of the women's movement, opportunities opened up for women's participation in ever new areas of activity. Technology and engineering were one of the last bastions where women remained closed.
It should be noted that despite the opening of new technical universities, competition in them was quite high and ranged from 4.2 people per place at the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute to 6.6 people at the Institute of the Corps of Transport Engineers and up to 5.9 people at Institute of the Corps of Mining Engineers (data from 1894).
In the multi-million mass of illiterate population, engineers were a group whose general cultural level was far superior to those with whom they had to communicate intensively, i.e. circle of your closest friends. Certified engineers belonged to the intellectual elite of society. These were the cream of the intelligentsia. This situation was facilitated by the nature of technical education of those years, which was distinguished by universalism and excellent general educational preparation.
The income of engineers, which sometimes put them on the same level as those in power, also attracted the attention of ordinary people and workers to them, increasing the prestige of the profession in the mass consciousness. Facts indicate that the desire to become an engineer (this is evidenced by the results of competitions) was dictated, not least of all, by the fairly high financial situation of the graduate. For example, the manager of a mine or factory received a salary of up to 20 thousand rubles a year and, in addition, had a government apartment. The salary of an engineer of this rank exceeded the salary of a worker by about 100 times. However, managers constituted the highest echelon of the engineering corps; the bulk of specialists had more modest incomes. In the capitals, a technical specialist earned from 175 to 350 rubles per month (from 2.1 thousand to 4.2 thousand rubles per year)1.
The novel by N. G. Garin-Mikhailovsky “Engineers” tells about one of the young engineers, a university graduate. In the first year of work after graduation, he earns 200-300 rubles per month, i.e. about 10 times more than a worker. Lower engineering positions (for example, foreman) were paid 2-2.5 times more than a worker.
The financial situation of Russian engineers at the end of the 19th century was such that their income level brought them closer to the wealthiest strata of society; apparently, their incomes were the largest compared to the incomes of all other hired workers.
The authors of works on the history of engineering activities and the formation of the engineering profession in Russia note numerous facts of the presence of additional income from the profession, including those related to bribery and theft of government property. Such illegal, but very common side incomes made engineering positions quite a “warm place”.
To emphasize their exclusivity and belonging to a prestigious profession, Russian engineers wore uniforms that clearly indicated the military origin of the profession. Common features of clothing for engineers are a cap and a uniform. In autocratic Russia in the 19th century, very great importance was attached to wearing a uniform. The authors write about this: “The conservatism implanted from above gave rise to distrust of everything growing and new - therefore, of the individual and original - creating an aesthetics of universal uniformity that manifests itself everywhere and every day. The first evidence of everyone's civic worth was the uniform, which everyone was supposed to wear - military personnel and officials, surveyor students, judges and schoolchildren. Deprived of a uniform, a person ceased to be part of the state structure, became a particle of the mass that filled its pores, and aroused official distrust mixed with wary hostility.”1 In addition to the uniform, even service awards are institutionalized. Thus, the Charter on the Civil Service of 1857 stated: “The following are considered awards: 1. Rank; 2. Orders; 3.Highest favor; 4. The title of chamberlains and chamber cadets of the Court of His Imperial Majesty; 5. Rent money; 6. Land grant; 7. Extra salary; 8. Gifts on behalf of H.I.V.; 9. One-time cash payments; 10. Appreciation of the authorities, declared with the Highest permission. This list and much more speaks about the prestige of the engineering profession in society. It was relatively new and quite rare in the 19th century (according to some sources, there were about 12 thousand certified factory engineers). It should be said that capitalist economic development required a constant influx of technical specialists and the creation of an effective system for their training. At the same time, the technical education system of the 19th century. was distinguished by a certain conservatism and did not provide the number of engineers the country needed, i.e. the profession of “engineer” was not only unique, but also in short supply, despite the development of the education system, professional communities, clubs, paraphernalia and symbols.
CONCLUSIONS
The 19th century, especially its second half, was characterized by rapid development of industry and an increase in the pace of railway construction, which gave impetus to the development of the engineering profession and the formation of a fairly large group of factory engineers.
The unevenness of technical progress in Russia, when certain industries were developing rapidly, where engineering personnel were concentrated, there were industries developing slowly, unevenly, where there was a clear lack of engineers. Their deficiency was made up for by practitioners, the percentage of whom was quite high. This hindered the development of production, industries and productive forces in general.
Leaving the nobility as the main recruiting mass, the government is taking measures to expand the training of engineers at the expense of other classes. Many educational institutions are becoming all-class and undergoing democratic changes, which makes it possible to to some extent satisfy the needs of the developing industry for engineers.
One of the features of solving the problem of increasing the number of engineers for the needs of the developing industry of Russia is the significant import of foreign specialists. The dominance of these personnel, especially in the engineering industry, required the adoption of measures to develop the domestic system of technical education, to secure graduates of colleges in their specialty, and later the development of women's education. Topic III. DEVELOPMENT OF MECHANICS AS A SCIENCE IS A CONDITION FOR SUCCESSFUL ENGINEERING ACTIVITIES From the book Ambushes, setups and other tricks of traffic police inspectors author Kuzmin Sergey
From the book Flamethrower and Incendiary Weapons author Ardashev Alexey NikolaevichTopic IV. DEVELOPMENT OF ENGINEERING ACTIVITY, ENGINEERING PROFESSION AND SPECIAL EDUCATION The engineering profession has gone through a long path of formation and development, and has its own characteristics at one stage or another in history. For a long time, this activity was viewed as
From the book Half a Century in Aviation. Notes of an academician author Fedosov Evgeniy AlexandrovichTopic V. FEATURES OF THE FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF ENGINEERING ACTIVITY AND THE PROFESSION OF ENGINEERING IN RUSSIA Since ancient times, people have needed the construction of bridges, canals, harbors, roads, etc. The people who solved these problems were called engineers. They designed
From the book Materials for Jewelry author Kumanin Vladimir IgorevichTopic VI. THE CONTRIBUTION OF DOMESTIC SCIENTISTS TO THE FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF ENGINEERING SCIENCES Engineering sciences equip engineers and technicians with the knowledge and ability to solve complex problems of creating machines of various types and purposes, constructing various structures, and allow calculation
From the book Nanotechnology [Science, Innovation and Opportunity] by Foster LynnTopic VIII. DEVELOPMENT OF CHEMICAL KNOWLEDGE AND TECHNOLOGY, TRADE AND TECHNICAL CHEMISTRY IN Rus' (X - XVII centuries) After the baptism of Rus' (988) in Kiev and other centers, along with the Greek clergy and merchants, many Greek specialists-craftsmen appeared, including
From the book History of Electrical Engineering author Team of authorsTopic X. ESSENCE AND CONTENT OF MODERN SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL REVOLUTION AND ITS INFLUENCE ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF ENGINEERING A pressing problem of social development is the scientific and technological revolution. Its significance is determined not only by the acceleration of historical
From the author's bookTOPIC XI. ELECTROCHEMISTRY AND ENGINEERING The world around us is diverse and mysterious. All nature, the entire world objectively exists outside and independently of human consciousness. The world is material; everything that exists represents different types of matter, which is always
From the author's bookTopic XII. BIOTECHNOLOGIES, THEIR ESSENCE, PAST AND PROSPECTS FOR DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION Most of our contemporaries – specialist engineers are to some extent ready to answer the question “technology”, “technological process”, and can first of all talk about
From the author's bookINSTITUTION OF A CASE ABOUT AN ADMINISTRATIVE OFFENSE Article 28.1. Initiation of a case of an administrative offense1. The reasons for initiating a case of an administrative offense are: 1) direct discovery by officials authorized
From the author's bookCONSIDERATION OF A CASE ABOUT AN ADMINISTRATIVE OFFENSE Article 29.1. Preparing for the consideration of a case of an administrative offense. When preparing for the consideration of a case of an administrative offense, a judge, body, or official finds out the following
From the author's bookChapter 4 Deeds of bygone days... Fighting with the power of flame in the Middle Ages Prometheus brought fire to people - is this a blessing or a disaster? V. B. Shklovsky In the East, incendiary weapons have been used for a long time and traditionally widely. Arabs until the 14th century. used pyrotechnic weapons
From the author's bookAffairs in Chechnya In 1994, the first Chechen war began, which, despite the boast of Defense Minister P. Grachev, who promised a lightning victory with the forces of one regiment, quickly became protracted and bloody. Essentially, history began to repeat itself.
From the author's book1. History of the development of jewelry Man has loved to decorate himself and his home since ancient times. In the Stone Age, materials such as stone, wood, bone, clay, and shells were used to make various jewelry. But even then, man collected and used natural
From the author's book6.1. National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) and Nanotechnology for the 21st Century Act The program, called the US National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), was adopted in 2000, when it became obvious that the transformation of matter into
From the author's book5.1. ELECTRIC POWER INDUSTRY AT THE END OF THE 19TH AND IN THE XX CENTURY 5.1.1. THE FIRST THREE-PHASE POWER TRANSMISSION LINE Electrification dates back to 1891, when a three-phase system was tested at the International Electrotechnical Exhibition in Frankfurt am Main (Germany)
Engineering does not stand still. Scientists work tirelessly every day to make the lives of ordinary people and industrial professionals easier, speed up work processes and ensure high-quality and ultra-fast communication between residents of different hemispheres.
In 2014, technical innovations became even more productive, futuristic and, most importantly, safe. The editors have compiled for readers a review of the most exciting news from the world of technology over the past year.
Unmanned aerial vehicles
Unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, are a sweet spot for engineers. Small drones and entire remote-controlled spaceships are becoming more and more like the figment of a science fiction writer's imagination every day.
So, in September 2014, we talked about the long-awaited initiative for . The idea belongs to the Portuguese company Quarkson, which, unlike the project Google Project Loon, plan not just to place router balloons above the ground, but to launch an entire flotilla of drones into the skies.
Quarkson plans to provide Internet to every person in the world using drones
(photo by Quarkson).
Quarkson aircraft will fly at an altitude of 3,500 meters above sea level and will cover distances of 42 thousand kilometers. Each drone will operate without recharging for up to two weeks and perform a variety of tasks: distributing Wi-Fi, monitoring the state of the environment, taking aerial photography, and even serving for reconnaissance purposes during war.
Let us recall that about a similar initiative in 2013: the network giant plans to organize the delivery of small goods purchased in an online store, not by couriers or mail, but by drones.
The effective operation of a drone flotilla cannot be ensured unless all members of the “flock” are controlled using special algorithms. Fortunately, in March 2014, engineers from the Eötvös Laurent University in Budapest, who were flying in a flock without central control.
Communication of flying robots is ensured by receiving and transmitting radio signals, and orientation in space is carried out thanks to a GPS navigation system. Each robotic swarm has a “leader”, followed by the rest of the drones.
Biodron is made from fungi and bacteria and decomposes after crashing
(photo by CNASA/Ames).
Unlike the Quarkson initiative, Hungarian engineers plan to adapt such swarms exclusively for peaceful purposes - the same or in the distant future.
A team from the Ames Research Center and Stanford University in 2014 thought about an important but not obvious problem - the disposal of drones destroyed in collisions. Engineers even tested it in November.
The prototype is made from a special substance - mycelium - which is already widely used to make biodegradable packaging. However, scientists still plan to continue making some parts from ordinary materials in order to provide the drone with high performance. However, removing a couple of blades and a battery from a crash site is not the same as disassembling the entire body of a flying robot.
Aerospace engineering
In some areas of human activity, it is not yet possible to replace the living brain with its intuition and a huge range of feelings with a drone. But it is always possible to modernize manned aircraft.
In November 2014, the American space agency NASA tested. A new FlexFoil system was tested, which is designed to replace standard aluminum flaps, reduce aircraft fuel consumption and increase the aerodynamics of the hull.
The flap can be attached to almost any wing
(illustration by FlexSys).
It is not yet clear whether the new technology will replace those already used in the aviation industry, but initial tests have shown excellent results. Perhaps FlexFoil will find its application even in space.
Speaking about the majestic expanses of our Universe, it is impossible not to recall another great achievement of engineers - . The new development of engineers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a plastic suit equipped with thousands of coils that will allow the fabric to shrink directly on the astronaut’s body and enclose him in a safe cocoon.
Possible appearance of a spacesuit of the future
(illustration by Jose-Luis Olivares/MIT).
The coils contract in response to body heat and also have shape memory. That is, subsequent donning of a spacesuit for each astronaut will be easier than the very first time. So far, engineers have constructed only a small piece of prototype fabric, but in the future, they are confident that they will walk on the Moon and Mars in just such suits.
Robots and exoskeletons
Every year, roboticists produce a dozen machines. They become more "smart" and dexterous, and the software gives them superhuman abilities. Engineers give everyone the opportunity to feel a little like a cyborg - a special suit that increases muscle strength or even returns the joy of movement to paralyzed patients.
However, so far a person, even with a phenomenally complex brain, is not able to cope with absolutely any task, and this is exactly what engineers want to achieve from robots. Like a person, the machine of the future will draw the missing knowledge and instructions from the Internet, but not through search engines, but with the help of the RoboBrain computing system.
Scientists have come up with this system of integrating the knowledge accumulated by mankind into a robot's brain-computer to allow machines to deftly cope with any everyday tasks. Thus, the robot will be able to determine, for example, what the volume of the mug is, what the temperature of the coffee is, and how to properly prepare a delicious cappuccino from items in the kitchen.
The robot assembles itself in 4 minutes
(MIT photo).
Researchers primarily strive to give robots autonomy, that is, to design such a machine and write such software so that the robot can act without human assistance. Another impressive example of achievements in this area is, which self-assembles when heated and moves on various surfaces.
This development belongs to a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University. As the engineers explain, they managed to create a device with built-in computing ability. Moreover, origami robots are created from inexpensive materials and are universal in use: small bots can become the basis for self-assembling furniture of the future or temporary shelters for people affected by natural disasters.
A modified exoskeleton prototype will be worn by a paralyzed man who will later kick the ball at the opening of the 2014 FIFA World Cup
(photo by Miguel Nicolelis).
One of the most exciting achievements in robotics in 2014 was the historic first kick of the ball at the World Cup in Brazil. And Juliano Pinto made this shot. Pinto was able to accomplish the impossible with a new exoskeleton designed by the team of Miguel Nicolelis, who spent many years in development.
The exoskeleton not only gives Pinto muscle strength, but is completely controlled by brain signals in real time. To create a unique robotic suit, Nicolelis and his colleagues had to conduct a lot of experiments that culminated in major discoveries. So, located on different continents, they created an interface for, which was tested on monkeys.
All this led to the fact that the paralyzed patient was able to feel his lower limbs again.
Medical equipment
Engineers can help not only paralytics, but almost any patient. Without the latest advances in robotics, modern medicine would not exist. And this year several more impressive prototypes were presented.
Particular attention should be paid to the camera created by scientists from Duke University. This real-time imaging device makes it possible to diagnose cancer even at the earliest stages.
A new gigapixel camera allows large areas of skin to be examined in great detail for the presence of melanoma, a skin cancer. Such an examination will allow you to promptly notice any changes in the color and structure of the skin, quickly diagnose the disease and cure it. Let us remember that although this type of cancer is the most deadly, it is...
(photo by Daniel Marks).
Diagnosis is always followed by treatment, and it is best if this treatment is targeted, that is, targeted. It will allow drugs to be delivered directly to the affected cells. Tiny nanomotors will power an army of nanorobots that can send aggressive drugs directly to cancerous tumors without affecting healthy cells. Thus, cancer treatment will be unnoticed, painless and without side effects.
High-tech materials
The materials that surround us, such as glass, plastic, paper or wood, are unlikely to surprise us with their properties. But scientists have learned to create materials with unique properties using the most common budget raw materials. They will allow you to design real futuristic structures.
For example, in February 2014, engineers from the University of Texas at Dallas created from ordinary fishing line and sewing thread. Such fibers can lift 100 times more weight than natural human muscles and generate a hundred times more mechanical energy. But weaving an artificial muscle is quite simple - you just need to accurately wind fishing lines made of high-strength polymer onto layers of sewing threads.
In normal crunches, muscles contract when heated and return to their original state when cooled. When twisting in reverse - vice versa
(photo by University of Texas at Dallas).
The new development can be widely used in everyday life in the future. Polymer muscles could be used to create weather-adaptive clothing, self-closing greenhouses and, of course, super-strong humanoid robots.
By the way, humanoid robots may have not only super-strong muscles, but also flexible armor. Engineers from McGill University in 2014 were inspired by armadillos and crocodiles and designed armor from. Compared to a rigid shield, flexible armor turned out to be 70% stronger.
To create new armor, mechanical engineers turned their attention to animals like armadillos and crocodiles.
(photo by Francois Barthelat).
True, in the future, most likely, rigid plates will be made not from glass, but from more high-tech materials.
In July 2014, a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology created material that is straight out of the movies. To do this, the engineers used ordinary wax and construction foam - two inexpensive and quite obvious substances that are ideal examples of state-changing substances.
The new material can, at the request of its creators, take on either a liquid or solid state.
(MIT photo).
When exposed to high temperatures, the wax melts and the robot becomes liquid. So he squeezes into any cracks. As soon as the heat leaves, the wax hardens, fills the pores of the foam, and the robot becomes solid again. Scientists believe that their invention will find application in medicine and in rescue operations.
Home appliances
Creating household robots and easy-to-use devices is one of the most difficult engineering challenges. Ordinary people will not undergo training to use special equipment, and therefore developments should be simple, useful, and most importantly, inexpensive.
At the very beginning of 2014, British inventor and company owner James Dyson announced that his engineers would help housewives around the house. The entrepreneur has allocated 5 million pounds sterling for this task, which will be carried out primarily by engineers from Imperial College London.
Japanese household robot Twendy One can do housework and take care of the sick
(photo by WASEDA University Sugano Laboratory).
The work is already in full swing, and when it is completed, many will be able to purchase a robotic assistant who will not only wash, iron and clean, but also sit with the elderly and sick, take care of small children and animals. A prerequisite for the project is that the cost of the machines be as low as possible.
While working in the kitchen, the Dyson robot will probably often use the recent invention of the Chinese company Baidu - “smart” chopsticks. The devices are equipped with an indicator and many sensors that will allow you to determine whether the dish is fresh or there is a risk of poisoning.
Smart sticks will help avoid poisoning
(Illustration by Baidu).
However, it is not yet clear whether smart sticks will become a commercial project. During testing, some users complained that the built-in system's criteria were so strict that it was almost impossible to find suitable food.
Let's go from the kitchen to the office. Conventional printer printing also experienced a revolution in 2014. Two impressive developments by scientists will allow you to save on cartridges and paper, save hundreds of trees from being cut down and make printing easier and more environmentally friendly.
A group of researchers from Jilin University in China announced in January 2014 that. To make this possible, a team of chemists developed a special coating for ordinary paper that activates dye molecules when exposed to water. After a day, the liquid evaporates and the paper can be reinserted into the printer, and a day is definitely enough to familiarize yourself with most documents.
Instead of expensive ink, the cartridges were refilled with regular tap water.
(photo by Sean Zhang)
Later, in December 2014, scientists from the University of California at Riverside proposed redox inks. Their technology involves printing using ultraviolet radiation, which leaves only colored letters on the plate, while the rest of the “paper” remains transparent.
Regarding the reuse of recycled household items, it is impossible not to think about. Experts estimate that recycled laptops almost always contain working batteries that can power enough light bulbs to light an entire house.
The experiment showed that after some simple recycling, discarded computers can get a new life and light up the homes of people in developing countries.
Total
In 2014, engineering and technology arguably took the biggest leap into the future of any scientific field. We should not forget that not a single fundamental area of research can do without achievements in this area.
Engineering was the first crafting craft I learned in WoW. My main never dropped engineering and the first guide I wrote on professions was specifically about this matter. This version of the guide is already the fifth and has been updated for the conditions of patch 8.0.1 (Battle for Azeroth)
Brief historical background
Throughout the four expansions to the game, skill leveling has been straightforward. That is, you had to start from the very basics and improve your level of mastery of the craft with low-level materials. Highlevel during MoP had to take copper and make a bunch of unnecessary junk out of it, then take tin ingots and make all sorts of little things again, and so on, up to the highest level of materials that were relevant in the current expansion. This path was quite tedious and at the same time costly. It often took several thousand gold to level up a skill, and farming materials yourself was sometimes tedious.
In the Warlords of Draenor expansion, the development system for all professions has been radically changed. Now the recipes and diagrams of the current expansion could be used with skill level 1. That is, it was enough to learn the craft from a trainer and immediately make items. Everything that came before was moved to a separate tab in the diagrams and recipes dialog box and called classic engineering. And if you wanted to do something from old content, then you first had to raise the skill level to the required level. True, this was only possible for characters level 90 and above.
This gave rise to variability in the choice of leveling path from scratch. You could level up the old fashioned way using old regents and only switch to Draenor reagents around 600 skill points, or level up exclusively using Draenor reagents. In Legion, the scheme has been preserved - here, too, you can level up a skill from scratch using several new drawings. As a result, leveling is described for different paths - both for the classic path and for how this can be done on the regents of the new addition.
One of the innovations in the Battle for Azeroth add-on, which seriously affects leveling, is that the skill is now divided into shooting ranges. Each tier corresponds to an add-on. The most important thing is that the shooting ranges are independent of each other. If you want to level up your Northrend engineering skill, then you don't need to make Old World and Outland items. You simply find a teacher in Northrend, learn from him and upgrade your skill. The distribution by range is outlined below. The total number of skill points is now 950.
- 1-300 - engineering
- 1-75 - Outland Engineering
- 1-75 - Northrend Engineering
- 1-75 - Cataclysm-era engineering
- 1-75 - Pandarian Engineering
- 1-100 - Draenor Engineering
- 1-100 - Legion Engineering
- 1-150 - Kul Tiran/Zuldazar Engineering
For other innovations regarding professions in Battle for Azeroth, watch this video
The classic path will be useful for those who play pirates, where the latest innovations of the official version do not work. So if you play on pirated version 3.3.5a, then perhaps it will help you.
General description of the skill
Engineering is an interesting and profitable profession from many points of view. Firstly, engineers have a lot of enchants for items in their arsenal, which are very useful in both PvE and PvP. Secondly, engineers receive a number of strategic advantages that allow them to save time on moving around the world and, let’s say, go on long expeditions, while having a complete set of all necessary communications - a mailbox and access to a personal bank safe deposit box. Thirdly, you can create artifacts with very interesting uses, as well as unexpected side effects.
There is a certain stereotype that engineering in WoW is unprofitable, that the profession is purely for fun. The stereotype is incorrect. Engineering in World of Warcraft is a lucrative profession and you can earn very good money from it. So if you decide to change one of your core skills, engineering is not a bad choice.
Engineering goes well with since it provides raw materials for the production of items.
Leveling up Engineering in Battle for Azeroth
Engineering in BfA is called differently depending on which faction you play as. There is no more fundamental difference. Kul Tiran Engineering is the Alliance version, and Zandalar Engineering is the Horde version. In order to start leveling up, you need to visit trainers in Dazar'alor, the Artisans' Terrace and the market in Boralus. The easiest way to find them is to ask the guards.
35-45
30 Nerve impulse translator - 30 mechanic kits
45-50
5 Mana Injection Set Parts: 60 Saronite Ingots, 10 Crystallized Water
50-55
5 Mechanized Snow Goggles: 40 Saronite Bars, 10 Borean Leather, 5 Eternal Darkness
55-60
5 Noise Generators: 10 Icesteel Pipes, 10 Saronite Capacitors, 40 Handful of Cobalt Bolts
60-75
25 Gnomish Army Knives: 250 Saronite Ingots, 25 Skinning Knives, 25 Mining Picks, 25 Forging Hammers
Cataclysm Engineering (1-75)
1-15
20 Handfuls of Obsidian Bolts: 40 Obsidian Ingots
15-30
15 Sparkling Ethers: 30 units of unstable air.
30-42
13 Volatile Seaforium Explosives: 13 handfuls of obsidian bolts, 26 sparkling ethers.
42-45
Restrictor Removal Kit: 30 Obsidian Ingots, 30 Handfuls of Obsidian Bolts
45-60
15 Lure Master Fishing Tackle Boxes: 300 Elementium Ingots, 60 handfuls of Obsidian Bolts
50-75
15 Heat Resistant Spinbaits: 15 handfuls of obsidian bolts, 60 elementium ingots, 15 pieces of unstable fire
Pandaria Engineering (1-75)
1-25
112 packs of Ghost Iron Bolts: 336 Ghost Iron Ingots.
To level up using this method, the character must be at least level 100. First, we fly to Dalaran (new) and find an engineering trainer. Then we take from him the quest Ah, the devil! at Hobart Dreck. As a reward for completing the quest we receive “Legion Engineering”. In the future, in order to open all the drawings, you need to complete quests given by the trainer. There are a total of 29 quests that take place in different parts of the world. One of the important quests is Working with full dedication, as a reward for completing which you will receive drawings of four level 815 helmets, which you will make in the interval 780-800.
All schemes and recipes in Legion have three levels. The higher the level, the less materials are spent on making the item. You can get them in various places - from drops from mobs to loot from dungeon bosses and world quests.
The blueprint for the Leystone Buoy drops from the Slave of the Bitterwater Tribe in the Eye of Azshara dungeon.
1-20
A Leystone buoy can be made up to level 720, but the blueprint will already be green. You can use another drawing - Powder charge (level 3).
Making 20 Powder Charges (Level 3): 20 pieces of Leystone Ore and 400 Huge Fuses
The huge fuse is being sold by Hobart Dreck, a vendor who stands next to the engineering teacher. Level 2 and 3 blueprints can be purchased from the Widow for 250 and 500 Sightless Eyes in the Dalaran sewers.
20-79
55 Powder Charges (Tier 3): 40 Leystone Ore and 1100 Huge Fuses.
Important note: you need to stop at skill level 779, because the following drawings will give several points for making an item.
79-100
There are four drawings that will allow you to level up your skill to level 800. They are yellow until 790, after which they turn green. Select one of the following drawings:
30 Double-Barreled Skull Cannons: Stormscale (900), Felhide (60), Blood of Sargeras (60)
30 Skull Cannons with Front Sight: Demonsteel Ingot (450), Infernal Brimstone (60), Blood of Sargeras (60)
30 Sawed-Off Skull Cannon : Rockhide Leather (900), Felhide (60), Blood of Sargeras (60)
30 Semi-Automatic Skull Cannons: Imbued Silkweave (900), Felwort (60), Blood of Sargeras (60)
You will also need 2 Sniper Scope, 2 Loose Triggers and one Earth-Infernal Rocket Launcher for all of these guns. All this can be bought from the same seller who stands next to the engineering teacher. You will receive level 1 drawings for completing the quest Working with full dedication. Level 2 blueprints are sold by Fargo Silicon Gate in Azsuna. Level 3 blueprints can be obtained as follows:
- Schematic: Sawed-off cranial cannon
- Schematic: Semi-Automatic Skull Cannon: Guardian Faction (Exalted), sold by Marin Razorwing in Azsuna.
- Schematic: Skull Cannon with Front Sight: Can be found in a small chest after completing the scenario.
- Schematic: Double-Barreled Skull Cannon: drop from any mob in the Broken Isles.
The beginning of the 21st century brought a surge of discovery and the creation of new engineering advances that set a new pace for the coming decade. From the growth of communication networks that instantly connected people around the world to the understanding of physical science that creates the basis for future advances.
There have been many great engineering and scientific achievements in the short span of the 21st century, from the development of the smartphone to the construction of the Large Hadron Collider.
Major engineering achievements of the 21st century:
The Large Hadron Collider
Several 21st century projects have been implemented from the dwarf size to the large-scale Large Hadron Collider. Built from 1998 to 2008 by hundreds of brilliant minds, the collider is one of the most advanced scientific research projects ever created. Its goal is to prove or disprove the existence of the Higgs boson and other particle physics theories. propels two high-energy particles in opposite directions through a 27-kilometer-long ring to collide and observe the effects. The particles move at almost the speed of light in two ultra-high vacuum tubes and interact with powerful magnetic fields supported by superconducting electromagnets. These electromagnets are specially cooled to temperatures colder than outer space to -271.3 °C and special electrical cables that maintain a superconducting state.
Interesting fact: A match of data confirming the presence of the Higgs particle was analyzed by the world's largest computing network in 2012, consisting of 170 computing facilities in 36 countries.
The largest dam
The Three Gorges Dam created a hydroelectric dam spanning the entire width of the Yangtze River near the city of Sandouping, China. Considered a feat of historic proportions by the Chinese government, it is the largest power plant in the world, producing a total of 22,500 MW (11 times more than Hoover Dam) of electricity. It is a massive structure 2335 m long, 185 m above sea level. 13 towns and over 1,600 villages were submerged under the reservoir, believed to be the largest of its kind. The cost of the entire project is $62 billion. 
Tallest building Burj Khalifa
The tallest structure is in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The name Burj Khalifa, translated as "Khalifa Tower", is the tallest of all skyscrapers, with a height of 829.8 m. Officially opened in January 2010, Burj Dubai is the central location of Dubai's main business district. Everything in the tower is record-breaking: the greatest height, a high open observation room, a transparent floor, a high-speed elevator. The style of architecture is derived from the structuring of the Islamic state system. 
Millau Viaduct
The Millau Viaduct in France is the highest bridge in all of human civilization. One of its supports has a height of 341 meters. The bridge spans the Tarn River valley near Millau in southern France and represents an outstanding overall structure given its slender elegance. 
“The genius of our twentieth century is expressed in engineering,” said Albert Einstein. Indeed, engineering plays an increasingly important role in the life of modern society. Modern society with a developed market economy requires an engineer to be more focused on marketing and sales issues, taking into account socio-economic factors and consumer psychology. The need for profound transformations in all spheres of the economy and social life of Russia, the technical equipment of production, the introduction of new progressive technologies, achieving the highest level of labor productivity, and increasing the production of highly efficient equipment also determines the need to train specialists capable of effectively solving these problems.
In light of these tasks, the decline in the level of prestige of engineering work cannot be considered normal. The decline in the prestige of this once glorious profession in Russia is a symptom of trouble in society, evidence of negative processes affecting the largest and fastest growing socio-professional group.
What is it - an engineer? Is it a position, profession, title or qualification? Can any work aimed at technical creativity be considered engineering? What does it mean to be a good or not so good engineer? What is the place of an engineer in modern production and society? These are all problems that need to be answered.
The objectives of this special course are:
Familiarize yourself with the main stages of development of engineering activities;
To trace how the position of people involved in engineering creativity has changed in various societies and to establish some determinants of this situation;
Highlight the stages of development of the engineer profession as an institution;
Take a look at the current state of affairs in the development of the engineering profession, taking into account historically natural trends in its development;
Encourage sustainable aspirations to obtain solid fundamental knowledge to solve problems of searching (inventing) new, more effective design and technological solutions, problems related to saving labor resources, raw materials, materials and energy;
To focus students on the need to prepare for mastering the intensive technology of engineering creativity.
As a result of studying the special course, a holistic system of historical knowledge should be formed that interprets the professional mission of engineers as innovators who create and improve equipment and technologies, the effectiveness of which is closely correlated with the innovative activity of society as a whole.
1. The origins of the engineering profession
1.1. The essence of engineering activity
Nature has long acted as an element, a force immeasurably superior to man, on which the entire existence and well-being of the human race depends. Man has been at the mercy of nature and natural processes for a long time, and the transition from the appropriation of ready-made objects of nature to labor played a decisive role in the process of human formation. Directly invading the processes of nature with his practical transformative activity in the material sphere, a person in the process of labor influences an object with an object, thus creating something new, which is so necessary for him in a given historical period.
The history of human development is, first of all, the history of invention, creation and improvement of various products and technologies. Probably, the first “engineers” can be called those unknown inventors who began to adapt stones and sticks for hunting and protection from predators, and the first engineering task was to process these tools. And, undoubtedly, the primitive “engineer” who attached a stone to a stick in order to defend himself more effectively and attack more effectively should be recognized as a brilliant inventor. The systematic use and processing of stone and stick by our distant ancestors, which began about a million years ago, the technology of making and using fire, which arose about 100 thousand years ago, bows and arrows with flint tips, which appeared about 10 thousand years ago, a cart with wheels, appeared 3500 BC. e., bronze smelting, a water wheel, a lathe, a violin, a steam engine, plastics, a television, a computer, a spacecraft, an artificial heart, a kidney, an artificial lens of the eye, laser and plasma and countless other things - all this is the result of an amazing, painful and the majestic process called human creativity.
Even 8 centuries BC. Golden lions were installed on the sides of the throne of Emperor Theophilus. When the emperor sat on the throne, the lions stood up, roared and lay down again. Isn't this a brilliant example of engineering creativity?
In the ruins of a palace in Peru, a “telephone” was found, the age of which is determined to be 1000 years old. It consisted of two pumpkin flasks connected by a tightly stretched string. Perhaps this is one of the first prototypes of current wired communications?
The above examples quite convincingly illustrate man's desire to find original solutions to technical problems long before our time.
Thousands of famous and anonymous inventors and innovators have given birth to the vast world of engineering and technology. This world is really big. In Russia alone, the range of manufactured products exceeds 20 million items.
However, the unknown inventors of the world's first tools did not call themselves engineers and could not transmit information over long distances.
Speaking in general about the history of human creativity, what is first of all surprising is the rate of its growth, which is illustrated in Table 1, where the class of products means technical objects that have the same or very similar functions (for example, the class of hammers, bolts, chairs, washing machines, refrigerators , lathes, sewing machines, etc.).
Table 1
Increasing number of products and their complexity
When looking at Table 1, the question involuntarily arises: what indicators for the number of product classes and their complexity will be in almost 100 years?
Analyzing the historical process of the origin, formation and development of engineering in a retrospective aspect, we can distinguish several stages characteristic of engineering activity along the entire path of historical development:
Intuitive creation of technical structures without relying on natural science (from its inception to the 14th century);
Indirect use of natural science in the creation of technical structures and technological processes (XV-XVII centuries);
The origin of technical knowledge (technical sciences) and its use in engineering activities (pre-industrial era, VI-XVIII centuries);
Engineering activities based on fundamental scientific theories (industrial era, XIX-mid XX centuries);
Engineering activities based on an integrated and systematic approach to solving problems (post-industrial era, second half of the 20th century to the present).
Moving on to the description of the stages of development of the “engineer” profession, let’s consider what constitutes the essence of engineering activity, what are its functions in the system of social production.
Engineering activity consists, first of all, in technical creativity, the purpose of which is to create new and improve existing means to satisfy the material and spiritual needs of man. Food products and radio equipment, clothing, shoes and audio equipment, telephone exchanges and television centers, bridges and thermal power plants are all objects of engineering activity. And, of course, their creation is preceded by the production of tools - tools and instruments, machine tools and engines - all those various machines and production devices with which engineering begins.
In other words, we can say that a characteristic feature of human life is the transformation of the natural environment in order to create favorable conditions for one’s existence. Constant influence on nature in order to create favorable conditions for one’s life is the basis of human life, and at the same time it is an engineering activity.
The word “engineer” first began to be used in the ancient world, around the third century BC, and originally was the name given to individuals who invented military machines and controlled them during military campaigns.
In different countries, the concept of engineer had different meanings. So, among the British the engineer was called a captain, among the French - a meter, and among the Germans - a meister. But in all countries, the concept of engineer meant: master, owner, owner, teacher, master of his craft.
In Russian sources, the word engineer first appears in the middle of the 17th century in the “Acts of the Moscow State”.
The word “engineer” comes from the Latin ingenium, which can be translated as ingenuity, ability, ingenuity, talent, genius, knowledge.
A modern engineer is defined in a completely different way: as “a person capable of inventing,” “a learned builder,” but not of residential buildings (this is an architect, a builder), but of other structures of various kinds, “a specialist with a higher technical education.”
Despite some differences in these definitions, they also have some meaning common to both interpretations. The commonality of these interpretations is connected, firstly, with technology, and secondly, with receiving a certain education. In solving technical problems, the first engineers and inventors turned to mathematics and mechanics for help, from which they borrowed knowledge and methods for carrying out engineering calculations. The first engineers were at the same time artists-architects, consultant engineers in fortifications, artillery and civil engineering, natural scientists and inventors. These are, for example, Leon Batista Alberti, Leonardo da Vinci, Girolamo Cardano, John Napier and others.
Time changed, the productive forces of society developed, the scope of the concepts “engineer” and “engineering” expanded, but one thing remained unchanged - educated technicians were called engineers.
Among the paradoxes of history is the fact that initially only specialists in the creation of military vehicles were called engineers. This can be confirmed by the fact that many historians consider the first engineer to be the inventor of the lever, Archimedes, who was designing military vehicles to protect Syracuse (Sicily) from Roman legionnaires.
But from ancient times man did not live by wars alone. Such a creation as a water mill was already known before our chronicle. The same Archimedes became famous not only for his military machines, but also for his screw water lifts for irrigating fields.
In the ancient world, not only military fortifications were built, but also peaceful engineering structures, for example, the Lighthouse of Alexandria. On the facing of this lighthouse, the ambitious ruler ordered the inscription to be carved: “Caesar Ptolemy - to the savior gods for the benefit of seafarers.” But the creator of the lighthouse knew the secrets of facing materials. At the time specified by him, the unnecessary part of the cladding crumbled and a marble slab was revealed. But on it people read another inscription, which glorified the name of the true creator: “Sostratus, from the city of Cnidus, son of Dexiplian - to the savior gods for the benefit of seafarers.”
The list of engineering achievements could be continued many times over, from primitive hand tools to automated machine lines of modern robotic production.
A characteristic feature of the development of engineering is its continuous improvement and complication. The development and complication of technical means is determined by the growth of human material and spiritual needs as human society develops.
The evolution of engineering, reflecting the stages of formation and development of crafts and handicraft production, is increasingly linked to practical activities based on the achievements of their predecessors, who used mathematical calculations and technical experiments, the results of which were presented in the first handwritten books (treatises). Thus, engineering begins to rely on technical and technological structures, and, at a later stage of development, on scientific knowledge.
Considering engineering activity as a certain system, it is necessary to determine the main components of this system. These components are: technology, technology, science, engineering (Fig. 1).
The word technology comes from the Greek tecuu, which translates as “art”, “skill”, “skill”. In Russian, the concept of technology includes a set of devices and means created to meet the production needs of society, i.e. these are tools, machines, devices, units, etc.
It is no coincidence that in the “Concise Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language” the concept of “technique” has a multi-valued interpretation: “Technique:
A set of means of labor, tools with the help of which something is created.
Machines, mechanical tools.
The body of knowledge, means, methods used in any business.”
The concept of “technology” in a philosophical sense is a set of technical structures (in the initial period of human development, quite primitive) with the help of which a person transforms the world around him, creates “artificial nature”.
In the scientific literature of our time, technology is classified as the sphere of material culture: it is the environment of our lives, means of communication and exchange of information, means of ensuring comfort and coziness in everyday life, means of transportation, attack and defense, all instruments of action in a variety of fields. Defining technology at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, domestic researcher P.K. Engelmeyer noted: “With its devices, it has enhanced our hearing, vision, strength and dexterity, it reduces distance and time and generally increases labor productivity. Finally, by facilitating the satisfaction of needs, it thereby contributes to the birth of new ones... Technology has conquered space and time, matter and force for us, and itself serves as the force that uncontrollably drives the wheel of progress forward.”
The concept of technology is inextricably linked with the concept of technology.
“The Great Soviet Encyclopedia” interprets the concept of “technology” as follows: “Technology (from the Greek texve - art, skill, skill and locos - word, knowledge), a set of techniques and methods for obtaining, processing or processing raw materials, materials, semi-finished products in various industries industry, construction, etc.; a scientific discipline that develops and improves such methods and techniques.
The term “technology” includes the procedural side of production, i.e. the sequence of operations carried out during the production process indicates the type of processes - mechanical, chemical, laser technologies. The subject of technology at its inception was the issue of organizing production on the basis of available, labor, financial, energy, natural resources, on the basis of available technical means and methods of influencing the subject of labor.
The creation of technical structures (tools, machines, devices) and the application of methods and techniques for using them for processing natural and other materials as production developed (handicraft, manufacturing, factory, etc.) was more and more based on knowledge and experience predecessors, establishing principles and patterns inherent in new technical structures and related technologies. Thus, engineering activities begin to be based on a scientific basis.
What is science?
Science is a system of knowledge that deals with identifying and establishing patterns and principles occurring in various processes and formulating laws.
With the help of this knowledge, we understand and explain the world around us that exists independently of us.
Science is a certain type of human activity, which is highlighted in the process of division of labor and is aimed at obtaining knowledge.
Technique Technology
Fig. 1 System “technology - technology - science - engineering activity”
In modern conditions, technology, on the one hand, technology, on the other, act as objects of engineering activity, based on knowledge of laws, patterns and principles developed by science. Moreover, the system-forming role in the quartet “technology - technology - science - engineering activity” belongs to engineering activity, which was formed during the complex process of changing the nature of the life activity of human society and is a cognitive and creative form of labor activity.
The entire process of creating technical structures can be divided into a number of stages and thus trace the sequence of human engineering activity.
The first and most important of them is the stage - the birth of an idea.
The second is the embodiment of the idea in a drawing or model.
The third is the materialization of the idea in the finished product.
A natural question arises: are all stages the prerogative of the engineer, or does he provide only part of the process of creating equipment? Undoubtedly the latter. Engineering activity arose and began its path to recognition and approval only when in the sphere of material production there was a separation of mental labor from physical labor. In other words, the essence of an engineer’s activity from ancient times to the present day should be considered intellectual support for the process of solving technical and technological problems. For an engineer, as a rule, does not create a technical structure, but uses the skills of artisans and workers to realize his plan, i.e. materializes it, developing methods, techniques and technological processes for creating a real object, using his knowledge, and this is precisely the main difference between a professional group of engineers and artisans and workers.
It is precisely this dual orientation of engineering activity, on the one hand, to scientific research of natural phenomena, and, on the other hand, to production, or reproduction of one’s design by the purposeful activity of a human creator, that forces him to look at his product differently than the artisan and natural scientist do. . If, at the same time, technical activity involves organizing the manufacture of a technical structure (tool, machine, unit), engineering activity first determines the material conditions and artificial means that influence nature in the right direction, forcing it to function as it is necessary for humans, and only then based on the knowledge gained, sets the requirements for these conditions and means, and also indicates the methods and sequence of their provision and production. Thus, the process of creating technology is an endless cycle of human efforts to translate his ideas into a material object, where once a solution is found, it can be repeated the required number of times. However, the source of the technical cycle is always something fundamentally new, original, leading to the achievement of the set goal. In other words, we can say that the nature of human engineering activity consists of technical innovation, the constant search for more and more new solutions in technical creativity.
Loading...