Useful Links and Books
European
Space Agency ( ESA ) - 
Future Scientists and Engineers of America
Structural Engineers Association of Illinois ( SEAOI )
Steve Altes : Rocket Engineer, Writer, Actor, Brad Pitt's Stand-in and Photo-double.
Sustainable Consumption Website
Philip Emeagwali, Engineer, 'Superbrain of Africa' or the World's Greatest Brain ?
The Engineering Honor Society - " Tau Beta Pi "
Books
In
November 2003, a beautiful graphic-rich large-format book reached our office:
A Century of Innovation: Twenty Engineering Achievements that Transformed
Our Lives, George Constable and Bob Somerville, Joseph Henry Press, National
Academies, Washington, DC, 224 pp. This is a must-have reference, or at
least a must-read book. It includes perspectives in the words of a dozen
members of Tau Beta Pi, including featured authors in THE BENT: Stephen
D. Bechtel Jr., P.E., IN A ¹46; Samuel C. Florman, NY A ¹44; Mary
L. Good, SC G ¹50; Wilson Greatbatch, NY N ¹50; and Donald E.
Petersen, WA A ¹46; featured engineer Robert E. Kahn, NY H ¹60,
[Winter 2002]; and William A. Anders, OH H ¹62, who presented the Tau
Beta Pi key he carried on the first flight to the moon on Apollo 8 to the
Society in 1969. Robert A. Pritzker, IL B ¹46, president and CEO of
Colson Associates, Inc., was the driving force behind the book, and Paul
E. Torgersen, VA B ¹53, chaired the book development committee.
The 20 achievements describe in detail basic engineering developments that
transformed the world, such as electrification, water supply and distribution,
and agricultural mechanization, but also include nine of Tau Beta Pi¹s
Top 10 projects, omitting only the Panama Canal. Seven of the achievements
listed by our readers were included in the book¹s top eight. Tau Bates
named the Apollo program and moon landing as the top accomplishment, but
the book lumps it under ³Spacecraft² as the 12th listing. Nevertheless,
this is most likely the best summary of engineering innovation ever compiled.
Please read the book and encourage your public library to obtain a copy
[available for $40.55 online at [ www.nap.edu]. These notable achievements and innovator-role models
should inspire future engineers for decades. It is a great summary of the
crowning achievements of engineering, and it will enhance your pride in
being an engineer.
This synopsis by ;
James
D. Froula, P.E., Executive Director, Secretary-Treasurer and
Editor, Tau Beta Pi.
Book : ' Forks in the Road ' - Impacting the World around us.
By : Richard Weingardt, P.E
Writer, Author, Engineer, and Founder of Richard Weingardt Consultants, Inc.
Website : http://www.richardweingardt.com : E-mail - Rweingardt@aol.com
" A most timely publication. Mr.Weingardt alerts readers to the importance of improving engineers' image - imperative if the U.S is to maintain its economic and technolological edge in the 21st century."
- Jill S. TIETJEN, Past President, Society of Women Engineers
Price : $15.95 Paperback : $24.95 Hardcover
Please
consider listing my new book in the Books section. It is about my father,
the structural engineer Fazlur R. Khan (1929-1982). He was responsible for
the structural design of the John Hancock Center in Chicago and the Sears
Tower, among other large-scale buildings, and developed as well the structural
systems that were initiated in these buildings.
The book is a biographical account that focuses on some of his projects
at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in the 1960s and '70s. I have briefly
described the text by chapter on my web site, http://www.fazlurrkhan.com, on the last page, Yasmin Sabina Khan.
The book information is
Engineering Architecture: The Vision of Fazlur R. Khan
by Yasmin Sabina Khan
W.W. Norton, 416 pages
ISBN 0-393-73107-3
Two of the jacket reviews are
"Yasmin Sabina Khan's intellectual biography of her father is a thoroughly
engaging and fascinating exposition of his integration of structural engineering
and architecture into some of the most significant and influential tall
buildings of the twentieth century. She describes the principles behind
the innovative structures that Fazlur Khan designed around the world as
vividly as she does his gregarious, cosmopolitan, and urbane personality."
--Henry Petroski, Aleksandar S. Vesic Professor of Civil Engineering and
Professor of History, Duke University
"[A] moving account of . . . Fazlur R. Khan, one of the greatest structural
engineers in the 20th century, which is at once technically sound and of
great general interest. Being a structural engineer herself, Yasmin Khan
brings technical clarity to explanations of [his] works as well as many
of her father's numerous new ideas that became major completed structures.
I recommend this biography for anyone interested in buildings; it should
be read by architects but it ought to be required reading for all structural
engineers."
--David P. Billington, Gordon Y.S. Wu Professor of Engineering, Department
of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Princeton University
Tau
Beta Pi - The Engineering Honor Society
Other Links :
Engologist Website - http://www.engologist.com
The ETechnician Website - http://www.etechnician-i.com
Biographies of Famous Engineers and Nobel Prize Winners
National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA )
