Past, Present and Future:A History of Human Engineering

TE8490: Intro to Engineering

Overview of the Ages in MankindStone AgeBronze AgeIron AgePre-Scientific RevolutionIndustrial Revolution2nd Industrial RevolutionInformation Age Where we are

now

Stone Age

<Paleolithic-Mesolithic-Neolithic>

Hunters and Gathers“Old Stone Age”, “Prehistory”,

“Ancient Era”10,000+ - 5,000 years BCEngineered tools: fire, clothes,

Arrowheads, baskets, the wheel and rafts.

Neolithic – New Stone Age4,500 - 2,000 BCPottery, Statues, cooking tools,

stone axes, grinding stone, houses, loom and canoes

Bronze Age2100~ - 1200 BCEarly human civilizations

smelting smelting its own copper, alloying with Tin or trading for it.

The Rise of Civilizations◦Ancient Egypt◦Ancient Rome/Greece◦Chinese Dynasty◦Ancient Mayans

Mankind had perfected the art of crafting stone structures

From Pyramids to Stone Coliseums

Using metal to reinforce weapons, early transportation

 Seven Wonders of the World consists of: The Great Pyramid of Giza (the most ancient as well as the only surviving structure), the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Lighthouse of Alexandria.

Iron Age1200 BC – 400 ADKnown for improvements with humans

working with metals and forming better and improved weapons: (i.e. swords, daggers as well as better farming equipment)

The Separation of the Iron Age tothe Pre Scientific Age One thousand years ago,

superstition and the sword ruled.It was a time of darkness. It was a world of fear.

At this time mankind was choosing to not believe in myth and magic and scientific reasoning was beginning to set in.

Pre-Scientific Age400~ AD – 1500~ ADThink medieval times, with bows and

arrows, trebuchet/catapults and siege engines. Featuring guillitines and broader studies into the sciences of electricity, machinery and chemistry.

Let’s call this a Prelude to Steampunk

Industrial Age1750s- 1820s~1840sNow we are getting to the good stuff.

2nd

Poor Working Conditions

Second Industrial Revolution1860s~1914~  It is considered to have begun around the

time of the introduction of Bessemer steel in the 1860s and culminated in early factory electrification, mass production and the production line.

Also Railroads, highways, steam power, oil power

Telegraph, telephone and RadioMaritime Surge: Screw Propeller, oscillating

engine, iron steamboat, surface condenser, paddle wheel and ironclad battleships.

Atomic Age(1945~1954)Dropping

of the first atomic bomb and

the Red Scare/ McCarthyism (1947-1954)

Space Age(1957~)

Information AgeAlso known as the Digital

Revolution, Computer Age, Digital Age

Late 1970s to the present It is the change from analog, 

mechanical, and electronic technology to digital technology

The Future?RoboticsElectricalBioengineering