Engineering: issues, challenges and opportunities for development ...

AN OVERVIEW OF ENGINEERINGyoung engineers are concerned about the role of engineeringin addressing the issues and challenges of development, andsee opportunities for involvement with such groups as EngineersWithout Borders and Engineers Against Poverty, basedat IMechE in the UK. Many other mechanical engineers arealso concerned about the social responsibility of engineers andengineering organizations, and the need to engage more effectivelywith development issues in such fields as:■■■■water supply and sanitation;cleaner production and recycling;energy efficiency and conservation, renewable energy andclean coal technology;emergencies and disaster preparedness and response includingurban security;■ post disaster and conflict restoration, rehabilitation andreconstruction; and■engaging engineers in decision-making, policy-making andplanning.Mechanical and related national and international engineeringorganizations have a responsibility to assist engineers engagedin such activities through enhanced international cooperation,staff and student exchange.4.2.3Electrical and ElectronicengineeringTony Marjoram, in consultation withAndrew Lamb and various nationaland international institutions andorganizations in electrical and electronicsengineeringElectrical and electronics engineering is the field of engineeringthat focuses on the study and application of electricity,electromagnetism and, since the Second World War, the developmentand application of electronics and electronics engineeringin the later 1950s, from what was previously referredto as ‘radio engineering’. Due to the rapid pace of change since1945, electrical and electronics engineering include an increasinglydiverse of topics, from the more traditional electricalengineering subjects of power generation and distribution,electric circuits, transformers, motors, electromagnetic andassociated devices, to the development of electronic engineeringfrom telephone, radio, television and telecommunications,through the dramatic development of electronic technologiessuch as radar, sonar and weapons systems in the Second WorldWar, to more recent electronic materials, devices and circuits,integrated circuits and computer systems, microwave systems,mobile telephony, computer networking, increasingly sophisticatedinformation and communication technologies, opticalfibres and optoelectronic devices, photonics and nanotechnologies.Broadly speaking, electrical engineering deals with largerscale systems of electricity, power transmission and energy,while electronics engineering deals with smaller systems ofelectricity, electronics and information transmission. Suchsystems operate on an increasing micro-scale such that theterm ‘microelectronics’ is now common. Indeed, ‘Moore’s law’,named after Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel, describes thetrend in computing hardware as the surface density of transistorsin an integrated circuit that doubles almost every twoyears.The study of electricity effectively began in the seventeenthcentury with the study of static electricity by William Gilbert– credited as the father of electrical engineering – who coinedthe term ‘electricity’ from the Greek elektron for amber (usedin his experiments), and who distinguished between electricityand magnetism. Lightning was another natural electricalphenomena that attracted interest, and Benjamin Franklin,a polymath with a particular interest in electricity, proposedflying a kite in a storm in 1750 to illustrate that lightning iselectricity. While it is not known if he conducted the experiment,the course of history may well have been different hadhe been holding the string as he went on to be the UnitedStates ambassador to France and was instrumental in draftingthe Treaty of Paris in 1783 to mark the end of the AmericanWar of Independence.In 1775 Alessandro Volta developed a machine to producestatice electricity, and the voltaic pile in 1800, a precursorto the electric battery, to store it. Interest increased into thenineteenth century, with Ohm’s work on current and potentialdifference, Michael Faraday’s discovery of electromagneticinduction in 1831 and James Clerk Maxwell theoretical linkbetween electricity and magnetism in 1873. Based on thiswork, and the invention of the light bulb, Thomas Edison builtthe first (direct current) electricity supply system in Manhattanin 1882. At the same time, Nikola Tesla was developingthe theory of alternating current power generation and distributionthat was promoted by Westinghouse, which leadto a ‘War of Currents’ with the Edison Illuminating Company.AC gradually displaced DC on grounds of range, efficiencyand safety, with Edison regretting not adopting AC. Tesladeveloped induction motors and polyphase systems, Edisondeveloped telegraphy and the Edison Illuminating Companybecame General Electric. The development of radio at the endof the century lead to the cathode ray tube, diode, amplifyingtriode and magnetron as enabling technologies for the oscillo-© SAICE Computer chip.127