Name a celebrity engineer

[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, ******!