One definition of engineering might be the use of scientific principles to design and build machines , structures, and other entities, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, buildings, systems, and processes . And a definition of science , the set of knowledge obtained through observation and reasoning, systematically structured and from which principles and general laws with predictive capacity and experimentally verifiable are deduced.. But the perception that the actors have of these two areas of knowledge, naturally intertwined, can be very different. We will see below the opinion of some engineers and scientists about their fields of work, but first of all we can mention projects that articulate science and engineering.
One of the largest projects developed by humanity, which is based on the close relationship between these two disciplines of knowledge, is the ITER project.
The ITER project builds the first nuclear fusion reactor, a Tokamak reactor, which will produce net energy, clean and abundant energy, a milestone for the development of humanity. ITER means the way in Latin, and is the acronym for International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor ( International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor). It is an extremely complex project, integrating the work of 35 countries in Saint Paul-lez-Durance, in the south of France. The project consists of the development and construction of a machine that produces energy using the same nuclear reaction that occurs in the Sun, the fusion of two isotopes of hydrogen, deuterium ( 2 H) and tritium ( 3H), in helium, and requires the joint work of scientists and engineers in multiple disciplines.
Aerospace projects are another example of communion between science and engineering. From the conceptual design (that is, scientific and prior to engineering) of a ship or a satellite to the smallest detail in the design of parts and components, in the development of special materials, in the design and construction of communication, control systems, special energy sources or means of propulsion, technology is articulated both with the scientific objectives of each mission and with the means that allow expanding the frontiers of knowledge.
Let’s see some opinions of engineers and scientists about their disciplines.
Scientists are the ones who create theories, engineers are the ones who implement them. They complement each other and often work together, with scientists telling engineers what to do and engineers telling scientists the limitations on what can actually be done. In fact, they are different, but they work together . The Walker
Scientists ask what happens in nature and why, while engineers use the answers scientists find to create new inventions and ideas that are not found in nature, but can be reproduced artificially. Both are equally important, since without scientists engineers cannot develop, and without engineers, the research that scientists do would be wasted. They go hand in hand . Ashley
Science is all about knowledge and engineering is all about invention. Bored Leustas.
Science is a lot of high level theory and engineering is implementation and optimization. Often a computer scientist will come up with a plan that a technical engineer will have to modify, because the theory is not realistic enough to apply to production. Engineers are concerned with mathematics, efficiency and optimization, while a scientist is concerned with what is possible. A scientist would be happy to spend a million dollars creating a trinket that sells for $10 as long as it’s good science. An engineer cannot afford that luxury. Ying (computer engineer)
Engineers are trained to use tools, while scientists are trained to make tools. Engineers are workers, and scientists are free thinkers. Engineers spend most of their time looking for a solution, while scientists spend their time analyzing the problem. Engineers always treat the disease while scientists treat the cause of the disease. Engineers are narrow-minded and scientists are broad-minded. supum
Scientists, engineers (and yes, even managers…) are looking for the same thing! Science explores the phenomena of nature and tries to find the laws that govern it; engineering tries to use the laws of nature (already known) to replicate them in situations that lead to usable final results; Management provides the logical framework (what and why, strategy, and when and how of activities) for developing science and engineering efforts! Thus, each professional is a scientist, an engineer, and a manager (with varying degrees of involvement, depending on their work discipline or career choice). So what is technology? Technology is an integrated result of science, engineering and management associated with a certain theme. Nuclear technology is the integration of science, engineering, and management associated with the applications of nuclear fission or nuclear fusion. Automotive technology is an association of automobile-related science, engineering, and management developments and thus includes engine technology, instrumentation and control technology, etc.Dr K Subramanian
The difference is that in engineering we use science to make decisions about a product, about the efficiency of a project, to improve its performance, to lower costs, etc., while a scientist tries to discover, experiment and provide the basic knowledge for the engineer to create and design. Fight
It’s obvious. A scientist tries to understand nature, and an engineer tries to create what nature does not have, making use of what scientists have discovered. Chemical engineer.
The simplest answer: scientists discover things. Engineers build things. Jon
It’s a fusion. A scientist investigates the world using the scientific method. An engineer innovates by creating new products with his results. Engineers can test their products to improve them, but they don’t use the scientific method to test new things. They use observation, at most. Aww
They answer different questions. Scientists answer the questions: What is it? or Can we do it…?, while engineers answer the questions How…? and what is this for? It must be taken into account that there is some overlap in the questions (it must be taken into account that being a scientist who works in an engineering group the usual question is why is it done?, and it is a question that causes me a lot of irritation) . demoninatutu
Being a scientist is the same as a Ph.D. Sorry, but this is really simple. You cannot be a scientist without the philosophy part. Without a doctorate you are not a scientist. If you have one, you understand me. Marc Andersen, Ph.D.
Scientists face the slightest risk of going wrong on the way to a plausible solution. In fact, we are expected to be wrong several times before we finally come to a conclusion. Engineers face a high risk of getting it wrong on issues such as business or government budgets and deadlines; when scientists become engineers is when we have to make our research profitable and work under extreme pressure to meet a deadline. When engineers become scientists is when we are asked to deliver solutions that raise the bar set or challenged by competing engineers and scientists, which happens with every new revision. Bachelor of Science, Post Graduate Engineering.
The environment: the scientist spends most of his life thinking about what he is like outside his environment. The engineer defines his own environment and never leaves it. Alch
They are both science students. One leads the way while the other sets it up to benefit the human race. Both are equally important. Akhilesh
A scientist is the one who explores the principles and laws that are the results of experiments carried out in laboratories, or something like that, while an engineer is the one who applies these laws or principles to materials together with an economic evaluation that allows converting the concept in a product. Furthermore, we can say that the scientist is the developer of the concept and the engineer shapes this concept into a product. An engineer is also a scientist developing applications. Gulshan Kumar Jawa
Scientists research, engineers build. A scientist is someone who is paid to do research, to discover new things, to explore new frontiers. An engineer is someone who has studied what is already known and what is being applied to make or build a product that will be used or sold, such as a building, the design of a table, a bridge, etc. The scientist can study the bridges that have already been built to see where their structural weaknesses lie and find new ways to build them stronger or more stable: the structures of the future. A new generation of engineers would study new methodologies that improve construction procedures,dr david
Sources
Cambridge English Dictionary: Meanings & Definitions . Consulted in September 2021.
Spanish dictionary. Consulted in September 2021.
Nuclear fusion. ITER project. Consulted in September 2021.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Technology NASA . Consulted in October 2021.
