Science or Engineering?

Which suits you best, science or engineering?

At a meeting to review research proposals, a scientist announced, “If a proposal didn’t start with a question, I rejected it because that’s the way I was brought up.”

Several heads around the table nodded solemnly, but the engineers looked perplexed. I said, “Well, if a proposal lacked a clear objective statement, I rejected it because that’s the way I was brought up.” Now the scientists were puzzled. Our intent was the same, identifying proposals with clear intentions, but our language was very different.

So which suits you best? Here are some quotations that may help:

·       Sir Peter Medewar: The business of science is telling stories, then scrupulously testing those stories to see if they describe real life.

·       Henry Petroski: … science seeks to understand what is; whereas engineering seeks to create what never was.

·       Eric Drexler: If the intended result is knowledge — a better model of what exists in the world and how it works — I think of it as science. If the intended result is a new product, process, or design methodology, I think of it as engineering.

These words explain why the scientists and engineers at that table had different perspectives on what illustrates proposal intent. I wanted to see an objective, an end-product described, even if the end-product was knowledge. The scientists wanted to see a question that clearly framed the knowledge to be gained.

Science and engineering are different but intertwined. Some scientists do engineering and many engineers do science in order to make their engineering work possible. Some examples:

·       Alexander Fleming’s scientific discovery of penicillin led to design (engineering) of antibiotics.

·       James Watt’s practical engineering creation of the steam engine led to creation of thermodynamic science and future engineering improvements to the engine.

·       Science and engineering worked together in many major projects – the Moon landing, Manhattan Project, Gulf oil spill cleanup, Louisiana coastal restoration.

Science and engineering have one major mind-set difference that reveals a lot. Science expects more rigorous proofs that will hold up under challenge. I have often heard scientists say something like, “I can’t answer that question because there’s not enough evidence.” Engineering seldom has the luxury of not doing something for lack of evidence. Engineers will make assumptions to fill a data gap and then use a safety factor to account for the uncertainty.

Many jokes attempt to explain the difference between scientists and engineers. My favorite: An engineer and a mathematical scientist are placed at the end of a long room. At the opposite end is one of the famous Chippendale Dancers. They are told that they can advance toward the dancer, but only closing half the remaining distance each time. The mathematician throws up her hands and says, “It’s no use even trying, theory shows that I’ll never reach him.” The engineer immediately advances halfway down the room. She says, “That’s okay. I can get close enough for practical purposes.”

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