The Calculated Advantage of French Engineers
During the 19th century, French engineers earned a reputation as innovators in the design and construction of large buildings using iron and steel. There is, of course, the example of the Eiffel Tower, the 300-meter iron structure in the center of Paris recognized throughout the world. When it was built in 1889, the Eiffel Tower was, by far, the tallest structure ever made, a record it held for 40 years. The secret behind the French advantage in building design revolutionized the engineering profession.
Engineers look at the world in a particular way. The word “engineer” derives from words that meant devious or clever device. Harvard professor Antoin Picon, who studies the history of engineers, finds that all engineers share certain habits of mind.[1] Engineers value rationality above all else. They solve complex problems by breaking them down into their component parts. The engineering method relies on experience, empirical knowledge, and the tried-and-true process of trial and error, which has been an important tool for builders and inventors since before there have been engineers.[2]
However, in the 19th century French engineers stood apart from other engineers. Gustave Eiffel and his colleagues were pioneers of a new approach to engineering that accelerated innovation. When the industrial revolution made iron and steel available for the first time at low cost and large quantities, engineers in France quickly acquired a reputation for the innovative use of these materials in the construction of buildings. Eventually, this new approach would be taken up elsewhere and transform the profession. Eiffel identified two factors that gave French engineers an advantage in the innovative use of iron and steel in large structures: knowledge of scientific theory, and skill at mathematical analysis.
While other engineers, especially engineers working in England, relied primarily on experience and proven methods for design and construction, French engineers based their work on mathematical calculations. This allowed French engineers to quickly determine the feasibility of novel building designs that were unlike anything that had been built before.[3] Reliance on theory and mathematical calculation in addition to empirical knowledge revolutionized all areas of engineering practice, not only in building design.
Training in science and mathematics was first introduced as the foundation of an engineer’s education at the Ecole Polytechnique when it opened in Paris in 1794. The Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, Eiffel’s alma mater, adopted the polytechnic curriculum when it opened in 1829, as did other engineering schools in Europe and in the United States. Today, science and mathematics form the core of the education for all engineers.
Notes:
[1] Picon, A., 2004. Engineers and Engineering History: Problems and Perspectives. History and Technology 20:4, pp. 421–436.
[2] Vincenti, W., 1990. What Engineers Know and How They Know It. The Johns Hopkins University Press.
[3] Eiffel, G., 1888. Les grandes construction métalliques. Extracts of comments at Association française pour l’avancement des sciences : conférences de Paris. 17, Compte-rendu de la 17e session, March 10, 1888. [online: http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/CadresFenetre?O=NUMM-201168&I=191&M=tdm; accessed 2 Jul 2023.]
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More by this author: Read about the 19th century roots of the engineering profession and the 72 engineers and scientists named on the Eiffel Tower.
