Name a celebrity engineer

[taiden]

As I continued through my engineering program, one thing was constantly bugging me. I couldn't name a single celebrity engineer, and neither could any of my classmates.

Then I found my way to the shooting sports and realized... most rockstar engineers seem to be in the firearms industry... John Browning, Bill Ruger, Samuel Colt and many more I wouldn't be able to name.

Can you name a rockstar engineer? Can you name one that isn't firearms related?

My number one has got to be Nicola Tesla, but his focus was outside of my own (mechanical.)

[Echo]

In my limited experience, it seems that Engineers do the work, and Managers get the glory, and high salaries. I had an uncle who was possibly the top paper mill designer in the US, but no one knows of him. The Managers guide the expertise and creativity of the engineers. And good engineers may see the light and move into the Management function, if they are good managers, as did Uncle Dick, but no bets, there!
(Seems that Son Jim is seeing the light - he has 4 patents, but is completely in management now)

[TheDoctor]

Kelly Johnson, Howard Hughes.

[garym1a2]

Problem is most of us great engineers are introverts and can't spell worth ****.
!

[Dframe]

Click and Clack the tappet brothers. Both M.I.T. graduates

[fatnhappy]

Gene Kranz
Buzz Aldrin
the rest of NASA
Douglas MacArthur
Thaddeus Kosciuszko
Robert E Lee

[SOFMatchstaff]

Casey Jones??

[ph4570]

Good engineers stay engineers and shun management. Those who move to management had that defect from the get-go.

[bob208]

henry ford. the Chevrolet brothers. wright brothers vic eldebrock. auther Harley and William Davidson. George westinghouse

[popper]

Schottkey, Shockly, Kilby, Dodge bros., Chrysler, Otto, Renault, and the guy who designed this.

94678

[Artful]

Elijah McCoy - inventor of oil-drip cup for railroad self oiler's (Only the real McCoy is good enough)

[AkMike]

Fulton that did the steam engine. Eli Whitney that did mass produced muskets,

[garym1a2]

davinci

[waksupi]

Thomas Jefferson.

[fatnhappy]

Galileo

[scb]

Would one consider Robert Goddard an engineer? How about Sikorsky?

[JSnover]

Kelly Johnson, Eugene Stoner, Mikhail Kalishnikov

[firefly1957]

While he was known more for writing Jules Vern was an engineer and did right some things that came very close to what really happened.

[geargnasher]

Chris Kraft.

Werner Von Braun.

George Westinghouse.

Bill Boeing.

Gear

[smokeywolf]

Much of Kelly Johnson's success was attained the same way as Thomas Edison's; from the talented engineers working under them.

[TXGunNut]

Ryan Newman

[btroj]

Henry Ford.

Not a trained engineer but John Browning certainly meets the requirements.

[bikerbeans]

Admiral Rickover. Not sure if he had an engineering degree or not but he had the insight and ability to give the US Navy the best nuclear powered submarines that have ever been built. I met him once in the mid-1970s, he was the real deal.

Learned something today, Adm Rickover had a M.Sc in electrical engineering and had further postgraduate studies at Columbia but couldn't find if he received a higher degree.


BB

[felix]

Need a mechanical engineer? Hard to say what the difference was between mechanical and civil back in the day. ... felix

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferris_wheel

Ferris graduated from RPI, the same school as I did in 1975. ... felix

Jules Verne is my kind of man because he could WRITE about his "dreams" and encourage others to follow the "ideas". ... felix

[kens]

Sikorsky, Ford, Browning. All that they did in their time was amazing.
I am a contractor for Sikorsky as of now, and I have to wonder what was in those guy's wills when they left this earth.
Did they leave specific instructions on how to move their companies forward to the future?

What they did in their time was one thing, but, what the leftovers of their 'ideas' developed is another matter altogether.
How did they do that, and they are not even here?

you aviation buffs should google the new Sikorsky, CH-53K model.
The K model is all new stuff.

[mikeym1a]

casey jones??

ah, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MT Gianni]

Leonardo De Vinci

[tunnug]

My son (the engineer) said "Bill Nye-the science guy" is a mechanical engineer.

[Duckiller]

William Mulholand. You and your classmates need to go to a different section of your library and do somw research.

[MaryB]

Marconi(radio) Edison(electric inventions)

[btroj]

Based on avatar I wonder if our own Maven qualifies?

[DIRT Farmer]

Then there was the famous endineer at Mc Donald Douglus Aircraft the wrote one of the laws of avation. His name was Murphey.

[felix]

Based on avatar I wonder if our own Maven qualifies?

Yeah, maybe Maven and Casey are buddies! ... felix

[smokeywolf]

Eli Whitney and Benjamin Franklin

[Jammersix]

Kelly Johnson, Eugene Stoner, Mikhail Kalishnikov

Kalishnikov was a manager. He studied at various Soviet institutes, but was not an engineer.

There is quite a bit of evidence that a lot of the AK47 was not his; there is also a conspiracy theory that holds he had almost nothing to do with it. There are huge, gaping holes in the story as he (they) told it, there are inconsistencies in the various versions of the stories that he told.

[smokeywolf]

If Kalishnikov was a manager and not an engineer, then I have to say, he sure managed a truly great weapon.

[btroj]

Actually, looking at the OP I think we are reading it wrong.

The guy who first discovered and promoted Kim Kardashyn is a celebrity engineer. He built a celebrity out of nothing. Sadly, it still doesn't work and has no real use. Typical engineer.

[leeggen]

George Eastman

[edler7]

Rube Goldberg

[2thepoint]

Choo Choo Charlie of Good & Plenty fame

[MtGun44]

Eiffel, Watt, Northrop, Grumman, the Wright Brothers, Burt Rutan come immediately
to mind. All the astronauts.

The obvious ones in firearms have already been mentioned John Browning, Pederson, Garand,
Eugene Stoner, Ruger.

Most of the well known engineers have a company named after them because they became well
known because they developed a famous product. After working almost 40 years as an engineer,
I really never knew any engineers that wanted to have anything to do with celebrity. Most
engineers are interested in solving problems, and not interested in the silliness and stupidity
of celebrity. If they accidentally became famous, most were/are not interested in doing more than
a minimum 'polite' activity with the press, and then "leave me alone" to do my work. I know a
couple of fairly famous engineers and if they do anything with celebrity, it is to use it as a tool
to further their work - like get publicity to help get funding for a project.

Bill

[uscra112]

Roebling - built the first wire suspension bridge, (across the Delaware, and it carried canal-boats!) Having proven the principle he engineered and built the Brooklyn Bridge.

People who worked with Kelly Johnson were in awe of him. One comment that has come down to us is: "That damned Swede can see air". Give him credit where credit is due.

Bill Douglas, if he hasn't been mentioned yet. Bill Boeing, too. The Loughead brothers, although less engineers than businessmen. (Lockheed, if you didn't already figure it out.)

Al Mooney, who designed a successful biplane (Alexander Eaglerock) before he was 20 years old, and moved on to a brillinat career with several majors.

George Westinghouse, for his railroad air brake. His later career as a businessman is less than stellar, however. He screwed Nichola Tesla out of a fortune.

Harry Ferguson, inventor of the three-point hitch for farm tractors. Partnered with Henry Ford to make the 8N tractor wich is still a poor man's workhorse, even though they stopped making new ones in 1950. Saved countless lives, since the hitch would prevent the tractor from rearing up and flipping over backwards if the plow caught on something. Every tractor made today uses the basic design.

Glenn Curtiss. The man who made the first manageable airplanes in the USA. (The Wright's design was an unstable monster to fly.) Invented the motorcycle twistgrip throttle, among many other things.

The Krupps, who led the way toward scientific steelmaking. Carnegie was a Johnny-come-lately, but deserves honorable mention.

Bessemer, who probably stole the idea, but made purifying iron into steel by air blast so practical that the process is still used today.

[NewbieDave007]

As an engineer I would say that if you are getting into engineering to be famous then you don't have the right motivation. The vast majority of famous engineers that I can think of are ones that are famous for big blunders. Personally, I hope no one outside of engineering ever hears about any of my work.

[uscra112]

Machine tool pioneers -

Matthew Boulton. Watt may have designed the steam engine, but it was not until he got together with Boulton that the design could be built.

Henry Maudslay - figured out how to make accurate leadscrews.

Jos. Whitworth - first standardized thread system, first micrometer, (his best one could measure millionths of an inch!).

Elias Howe - the sewing machine

Eli Whitney - famous for many things, but among the first to make a purpose-built milling machine. (1820)

Joseph Brown - Brown & Sharpe. Did a lot to make the milling machine as we know it today, and also built the first practical "universal" cylindrical grinder.

Machine tools are the foundation of everything. If you can't make it, an idea is just vaporware.

Yeah, I agree, Bill. Engineers I have known, (and I were one) wanted to solve problems, and be left alone to do that. I dunno about you, but I still go to sleep running machines in my head, and often dream mechanism in the morning. My old Dad said "It's a fascinating profession, but you'll never have cocktail party conversation". So true - unless I've cornered another engineer, their eyes glaze over in about 30 seconds.

[Col4570]

There are masses of famous engineers dating back to early times.

[TheDoctor]

An often overlooked, often unheard of man named Jack Kilby. Nothing we have today would be the same without him. Imagine a world without integrated circuitry.

My all time favorite is still Nikola Tesla. Its difficult to think about the things we KNOW he did, and not be in awe.

[Col4570]

George Stevenson,Sir William Arron,Thomas Andrews,Charles Babbage,Isambard Kingdom Brunel,R J Mitchell,Sir Frank Whitle.

[btroj]

Like many things fame for engineers comes with time. Sometimes things that seem minor at the time are later looked upon as a great development.

[jonp]

Eli Whitney, Leonardo De Vinci, Tesla and Edison all came to mind. Your classmates could not think of these? What kind of engineering program are you in?

[LtFrankDrebbin]

Unfortunatly the days of engineers becoming celebs are history. Your a hero now if you can kick or chuck a ball but a nobody if you can design a sky-scraper.
Many a celebrity from passed centurys and well deserved for being great minds.
Brunnel, Trevethick, Stevensons, Newcomen, Watt.
Who of this age? Actors and sports stars.
Only one man comes to mind for the most recent. A back-yard engineer..... Fred Dibnah! (check it out via youtube)

[pmeisel]

One of the reasons that engineers became famous ten decades back, and don't now, is that so many of our technical achievements are so large. It takes literally hundreds of engineers to design a car or a new engine. If you read one of the few stories in the press that talks about the technology, they will usually interview the "chief engineer" -- who certainly had a lot of input, and is a qualified engineer, but is really a manager of several hundred people.

Just to throw out a name -- Ed Cole, responsible for the Chevy small block in the fifties, and the executive responsible for the Corvair. Unquestionably the leading mind behind the concepts, but did not sit at a drawing board or run a test, or even directly supervise someone who did, the chain of command was deep and the ranks were wide.

To throw out a couple more -- Lee Iacocca was hailed as the father of the Mustang. Iacocca was a sales guy who probably couldn't engineer a toilet paper holder. Those more responsible were a couple of guys named Don Petersen and Don Frey, who weren't really line engineers either... they directed engineers on general concepts.

[462]

Some race car engineers who come easily to mind:
Enzo Ferrari and Colin Chapman (Lotus) designed and built road cars solely to subsidize their racing programs. Ferdinand Porsche. Bruce McLaren (McLaren). Eric Broadley (Lola). Ken Tyrell (Tyrell).

None of them were egotistical enough to seek fame and star status, though Ferrari may have had it thrust upon him.

[Bent Ramrod]

This guy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-8GVi2Fdi4

[Hogtamer]

For better or worse remains to be seen...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_genetic_engineers

[popper]

Adm Rickover - 1 square deal. I was fortunate to visit DaVinci's museum a long time ago. He didn't have a 'degree', he was 'educated' in about everything.

[theperfessor]

Managing engineers = herding cats (sometimes)

I have great respect for those who can do so.

Elijah McCoy - 57 patents, inventor of the first self-regulating lubricator for steam engines, made steam engines practical for railroads and stationary power plants.

[uscra112]

Managing engineers = herding cats (sometimes)

Well, having managed both engineers and salesmen in my career, I'll take engineers!

[Jammersix]

Having managed architects, engineers, superintendents, foremen and assorted flavors of tradesmen, I quit.

[taiden]

Actually, looking at the OP I think we are reading it wrong.

The guy who first discovered and promoted Kim Kardashyn is a celebrity engineer. He built a celebrity out of nothing. Sadly, it still doesn't work and has no real use. Typical engineer.

Haha! I got a good laugh out of that. Seems like the money is in being a Celebrity Engineer.

[taiden]

I don't want fame, I was mostly upset that engineers aren't considered enough by society to be famous. They keep the wheels turning, ******!

[ratitude]

Q: What's the difference between a doctor and an engineer?

A: When a doctor makes a mistake he takes out one at a time. When an engineer makes a mistake we scatter bodies across the hillside and make the 6:00 news.

I have no desire to be famous.

[theperfessor]

Mechanical engineers build weapons; Civil engineers build targets...

[ratitude]

Amen!

[ChuckJaxFL]

Jeri Ellisworth. Limor Freid.

When the whole Mylie Cyrus tweaking thing was in the news, I sat down with my girl and watched a bunch of Jeri Ellsworth videos.

[nodda duma]

Engineers are famous (or well-known) within their trade. In my trade the famous engineers are folks like Rudolph Kingslake, Dennis Taylor, Warren Smith, etc.

Btw here's a list of famous engineers:

http://www.sinc.sunysb.edu/Stu/hnaseer/interest.htm

[dagger dog]

Charles Kettering, gave us the use of electric starters for our automobiles with his over running clutch mechanism, Zora Duntov, had a major role in GM's small block V8 engine.

[redneckdan]

Yeah, I agree, Bill. Engineers I have known, (and I were one) wanted to solve problems, and be left alone to do that. I dunno about you, but I still go to sleep running machines in my head, and often dream mechanism in the morning. My old Dad said "It's a fascinating profession, but you'll never have cocktail party conversation". So true - unless I've cornered another engineer, their eyes glaze over in about 30 seconds.


Yup. That's what is so great about going to trade shows and training courses. I get to mingle with folks who think like I do and understand what I am talking about.

That and given a little 'liquid engineering' all sorts of things get created. Like launching shaved ice balls off the roof of the Dallas Fairmont with a CO2 powder tater cannon...

[N4AUD]

Walter Houston, who played the old man in "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" was a civil engineer as well as an actor.

[jaysouth]

One time when I was hard up for a job, I accepted a position in a large professional engineering firm. I lasted a year as controller and director of administration. The designers and designer/draftsment were good to work for, but the MEs, CEs, and EEs in higher management positions were prone to solve every problem with drawings and specs. That never worked too well when dealing with bankers, OSHA, Dept of Labor, IRS and other outsiders who made their own rules that had the force of law and regulation. Try engineering logic on the IRS.

After a year, a nice little business came up for sale and I left the engineers to the problems of their own making.

However, the OP has a good point. Ditto for good teachers. Of all the names thrown out here, which one had an engineering degree from a university?

My point is that inquisitive tinkerers produce some pretty remarkable ideas and products without having their creativity stiffled by professors and academic experience.

[OeldeWolf]

I remember a book I read while at BYU. It was about a bridge designer (engineer), who had a girlfriend with a problem. He helped out her, and most every woman since. His last name was Brassiere. I understand there might be some lack of clarity in who was actually the first to design this device, though. But the book I read also credited him with designing a specific type of bridge truss, as well.

[2wheelDuke]

Pierre Terblanche

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/18/2007DucatiHyperMotard-001.jpg/1600px-2007DucatiHyperMotard-001.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/PaulSmartLE1000.jpg

[w0fms]

This thread is OK because it's getting the engineers out of the woodwork and making them admit they are Engineers! This isn't easy to do. And OMG, educated people who like guns! OMG.. even some with Master's degrees!

I'm one of those rare extroverted engineers! The personality type tests confirm this.

This means, of course, as an extroverted engineer that I look at OTHER PEOPLES shoes when I talk with them! ;)

But I'm good as an engineer. So no management upwards ability for me, despite that when I earned my MBA (for fun mostly, hey, the company paid for it!) I had a 3.95 GPA and was top of my class! Nope..

The sad fact is that in the Obama world, the low performing technically (and some times in management, too.) engineers become management... because if they were good technically they not become management. I don't think it was always like that, and when you say Iacocca, for example, he sure did appreciate the good technical skilled engineers back in those days. Not so much any more. Just reform immigration, you know, by printing up more H-1B's... go pound sand, Dilbert. The problem is that there is no longer a "technical' path to the pay scale of management in engineering in most American companies...

It'll bite them. Once Doctors, Lawyers and Engineers are outsourced.. why bother with management? Seriously.. just skip the involvement of the American companies all together. Look at Schwinn bicycles and Trek bicycles as an example of outsourcing everything except management...

I'm a BSEE from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, 1992... Work as a "software engineer".

The Civils make targets, the ME's make the weapons, the EE's make the control, guidance and (especially in my case) communications systems.

It's been a long time since I told that joke or the "ceement" class jokes too for the civils... ;)

[mpbarry1]

Conde McCullough

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conde_McCullough

[popper]

Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Wife has a nephew that went there in the 80's. Kind of a strange bird but nice.
Ducati get the valve system from Mercedes, who got it from IIRC Talbot or Peugeot.

[DRNurse1]

Chris Kraft.

Werner Von Braun.

George Westinghouse.

Bill Boeing.

Gear


Gear were you adding your name to the list?

I thought the hat thing put you far above the pop-star status you should have your own category.

[Garyshome]

Casey Jones!

[DRNurse1]

This thread is OK because it's getting the engineers out of the woodwork and making them admit they are Engineers! This isn't easy to do. And OMG, educated people who like guns! OMG.. even some with Master's degrees!

I'm one of those rare extroverted engineers! The personality type tests confirm this.

This means, of course, as an extroverted engineer that I look at OTHER PEOPLES shoes when I talk with them! ;)

But I'm good as an engineer. So no management upwards ability for me, despite that when I earned my MBA (for fun mostly, hey, the company paid for it!) I had a 3.95 GPA and was top of my class! Nope..

The sad fact is that in the Obama world, the low performing technically (and some times in management, too.) engineers become management... because if they were good technically they not become management. I don't think it was always like that, and when you say Iacocca, for example, he sure did appreciate the good technical skilled engineers back in those days. Not so much any more. Just reform immigration, you know, by printing up more H-1B's... go pound sand, Dilbert. The problem is that there is no longer a "technical' path to the pay scale of management in engineering in most American companies...

It'll bite them. Once Doctors, Lawyers and Engineers are outsourced.. why bother with management? Seriously.. just skip the involvement of the American companies all together. Look at Schwinn bicycles and Trek bicycles as an example of outsourcing everything except management...

I'm a BSEE from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, 1992... Work as a "software engineer".

The Civils make targets, the ME's make the weapons, the EE's make the control, guidance and (especially in my case) communications systems.

It's been a long time since I told that joke or the "ceement" class jokes too for the civils... ;)

Good summary, but the high school version: Those who can, do. Those who can not do, teach. Those who can not teach, teach gym. Those who cannot teach gym, administrate.

Our vice, principle, former gym teacher, former history teacher..... [:rant on] and the parade of BHO failed advisors from Hillary (not the mountain climbing one, thought she claims relations), to Sebelius, to Holder.....the list seems endless [/:rant off]

Sorry, the high school thing has been repeated in nearly every business adventure I encounter. What is up with that?

[coblake]

Gustave Eiffel

[DRNurse1]

Engineers are famous (or well-known) within their trade. In my trade the famous engineers are folks like Rudolph Kingslake, Dennis Taylor, Warren Smith, etc.

Btw here's a list of famous engineers:

http://www.sinc.sunysb.edu/Stu/hnaseer/interest.htm

Thank you for that post. I recognized a quite few names an the list, and happily more that were alive than dead. It interests me that many engineers I know are pursuing other endeavors, a concerning turn of events.

I once heard that a good manager knew a bit about what the engineers were up to so that the right engineers could be brought together. Sort of a synergistic meeting coordinator. Best definition of a manager I have run across, just wish I could remember who said it.

[cdet69]

John Roebling

[SlippShodd]

Floyd Smoot.

[Littleton Shot Maker]

Barry Soetoro,
best social engineer and master of illusion. And soon to have his own late night talk show on the O network!

[.45Cole]

.45Cole!
Well beyond me (I haven't had time to read the other posts, I'm an engineer!) Sharon Stone and Dolph Lundgren are famous Chemical engineers.
Stick with it, and remember: when you are over-extended, failing, not sleeping, and almost crying you will get to the top of the hill and see the mountain you have to climb. Makes graduation really worth it!

[Jammersix]

Pierre Terblanche

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/18/2007DucatiHyperMotard-001.jpg/1600px-2007DucatiHyperMotard-001.jpg

Wow, the guy who designed the coffee cup?

[uscra112]

Floyd Smoot.

Is he the guy they rolled across the Mass Ave bridge next to MIT, and thus calibrated the length of the bridge in "Smoots"? The markings were being kept up by somebody back when I was there in '69.

[Elkins45]

Actually, looking at the OP I think we are reading it wrong.

The guy who first discovered and promoted Kim Kardashyn is a celebrity engineer. He built a celebrity out of nothing. Sadly, it still doesn't work and has no real use. Typical engineer.

I can think of one use...

[SlippShodd]

Is he the guy they rolled across the Mass Ave bridge next to MIT, and thus calibrated the length of the bridge in "Smoots"? The markings were being kept up by somebody back when I was there in '69.

Floyd Smoot was the engineer (eventually) and conductor of the Hooterville Cannonball on Petticoat Junction. I was being a smartass. Your question puts me to shame. :)

mike

[btroj]

I can think of one use...

Get in line. Hope you brought a Snickers bar......

[dagger dog]

John Roebling


Roebling designed a bridge crossing the Ohio River at Cincinnati, OH to Newport, KY, that predated the Brooklyn bridge.
It still stands and is in use today, it was a toll bridge for over 100 years.

[white eagle]

krusty cream

[Echo]

Edison(electric inventions)

Actually, he wasn't a good engineer. He has been called the Magnificent Drone. He didn't engineer anything, he just tried thousands of ideas, and some worked. His electric light bulb was the end result of a thousand attempts.

[Echo]

Ed Heinemann, Chief Engineer of the Douglas El Segundo plant. He designed more first-line combat airplanes than any other, and did it as a HS dropout! No college engineering for Ed H., but he did attend Manual Arts HS in LA, a famous school. We have 6 of his types on display here at Pima Air & Space Museum, with 2 more in restoration awaiting our tender loving care. On display - F4D Skyray (set a World speed record in 1953, and a time-to climb record in 1958), F3D Skynight (took out more enemy aircraft in the Korean War than any other Navy or Marine types), A3D Skywarrior (largest airplane to be operational off carriers, record-setter), A4D Skyhawk (convinced the Navy he could design & build an attack aircraft capable of carrying 8,000 lbs of ordinance, but small enough so that it didn't need folding wings), B26K Invader (operational in the USAF for 25 years!), and A1 Skyraider (the Able Dog, used from Korea through SEA). In restoration, A-20 Havoc and SBD Dauntless - Heinemann finished work on these that were started by Jack Northrop. One of my heroes - but I guess maybe not famous...