‫بسم هللا الرمحن الرحمي‬

‫اململكة العربية السعودية‬

‫وزارة التعلمي العايل‬
‫جامعة حايل‬

‫‪2022/1444‬‬
Engineering is the application of science and maths to solve problems. While
scientists and inventors come up with innovations, it is engineers who apply these
discoveries to the real world.
The field has been defined by the Engineers Council for Professional Development,
in the United States, as the creative application of “scientific principles to design or
develop structures, machines, apparatus, or manufacturing processes, or works
utilizing them singly or in combination; or to construct or operate the same with
full cognizance of their design; or to forecast their behaviour under specific
operating conditions;
Engineering is part of STEM education, which aims to engage students with science,
technology, engineering and mathematics yet, as a discipline, it has been practiced for
thousands of years.
You can see examples of engineering in the Pyramids of Giza, at Stonehenge, the
Parthenon and elsewhere. Yet, today’s engineers operate in many different areas as well
as building structures.
Engineers work on everything from cell membranes to construction and prosthetics to
improving engine and transport efficiencies and developing renewable energy resources.
While engineering dates right back to the invention of the wheel (and beyond), the term
itself comes from the word engineer, which goes back to the 14th century, when an
‘engine’er’ meant someone who constructed military engines like catapults and other
‘siege engines.’ This military meaning can still be seen in use today with the Corps of
Royal Engineers and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The word ‘engine’ itself comes from the Latin word ‘ingenium’ (c. 1250), which means
‘innate quality, especially mental power, hence a clever invention.’
Engineering developed beyond military applications and began to be applied to c ivilian
structures like bridges and buildings, leading to the creation of the term civil
engineering, to differentiate it from the original military engineering field.
The first engineer known by name and achievement is Imhotep, builder of the Step
Pyramid at Ṣaqqārah, Egypt, probably about 2550 BCE. Imhotep’s successors—
Egyptian, Persian, Greek, and Roman—carried civil engineering to remarkable heights
on the basis of empirical methods aided by arithmetic, geometry, and a smattering
of physical science. The Pharos (lighthouse) of Alexandria, Solomon’s Temple in
Jerusalem, the Colosseum in Rome, the Persian and Roman road systems, the Pont du
Gard aqueduct in France, and many other large structures, some of which endure to this
day, testify to their skill, imagination, and daring. Of many treatises written by them,
one in particular survives to provide a picture of engineering education and practice in
classical times: Vitruvius’s De architectura, published in Rome in the 1st century CE, a
10-volume work covering building materials, construction methods,
hydraulics, measurement, and town planning.
In construction, medieval European engineers carried technique, in the form of the
Gothic arch and flying buttress, to a height unknown to the Romans. The sketchbook of
the 13th-century French engineer Villard de Honnecourt reveals a wide knowledge of
mathematics, geometry, natural and physical science, and draftsmanship.
In Asia, engineering had a separate but very similar development, with more and more
sophisticated techniques of construction, hydraulics, and metallurgy helping to create
advanced civilizations such as the Mongol empire, whose large, beautiful cities
impressed Marco Polo in the 13th century.
There are many different types of engineering, often divided into areas in which the
engineer operates. For example, engineers working within the oil and gas industry could
be petroleum engineers, while those working in farming-related applications could be
called agricultural engineers.
While there are some traditional areas of engineering, such as mechanical and civil
engineering, other engineering fields require an overlapping of different specialities. So,
for example, a civil engineer may also need an understanding of structural engineering
or an aerospace engineer may need to understand aspects of electrical or computer
engineering too.
These types of engineering are commonly known as interdisciplinary engineering and
include manufacturing engineering, acoustic engineering, corrosion engineering,
aerospace, automotive, computer, textiles, geological, materials and nuclear
engineering, among others. These areas of engineering are all among the branches of
engineering that are represented by the 36 licensed member institutions of the UK
Engineering Council.
Here are some of the traditional and more common interdisciplinary engineering fields:

Mechanical engineers are involved in the design, manufacture, inspection and

maintenance of machinery, equipment and components such as vehicles, engines,
aerospace products, weapon systems, robotics, turbines, construction and farm
machinery, as well as a wide range of tools and devices. This type of engineering is also
associated with the management of control systems and instruments for measuring the
performance and status of machinery.

Electrical engineers work on the design, testing, manufacture, construction, control,

monitoring and inspection of electrical and electronic devices, components, machines
and systems. These range in size from the smallest microchips to large transmission and
power generation systems. This includes everything from broadcast engineering to
electromagnetic devices, computer systems, telecommunications and more.
Civil engineers are involved in the design, construction, maintenance and inspection of
large civil infrastructure projects, including roads, railways, bridges, tunnels and dams.
Working on both public and private projects, civil
engineers traditionally work in sub-disciplines such as
environmental engineering, structural engineering or
surveying.
As mentioned above, civil engineering was originally
created to differentiate it from military engineering.

As a specialised branch of mechanical and electrical engineering, aerospace

engineering focuses on the design, manufacture and
testing of aircraft and spacecraft, including all parts and
components. Covering everything from vehicle
aerodynamics and efficiencies to electrical control and
navigation systems, much of the expertise is also used
for other vehicles, such as cars.

Nuclear engineers work on the design, manufacture, construction, operation, and testing
of the equipment, systems and processes for the production and control of nuclear
power. From nuclear power plant reactors to particle accelerators, nuclear engineers
also work on factors such as monitoring and the storage of nuclear waste in order to
protect people from potentially harmful situations.

Biomedical engineers are concerned with the design of systems, equipment and devices
for use in healthcare and medicine. By working with medical specialists such as doctors,
therapists and researchers, biomedical engineers are able to meet the requirements of
healthcare professionals.
Chemical engineers use physics, chemistry, biology and engineering principles for the
design of equipment, systems and processes for refining
raw materials for mixing, compounding and processing
chemicals for a variety of products. Carrying out processes
on a commercial scale, chemical engineers are involved in
processes ranging from petroleum refining to fermentation
and the production of biomolecules.

Computer engineers design computer hardware, systems, networks and software.

Computer engineering combines other disciplines, such as electrical engineering and
computer science, as well as software engineering and design.

Industrial engineers design and optimise facilities, equipment and systems for
manufacturing, materials processing and other industrial applications.

Environmental engineers are concerned with the prevention, removal and elimination of
sources of pollution that affect the environment. Measuring pollution levels,
determining sources of pollution and cleaning up polluted areas, these engineers need to
work in compliance with government regulations.

Marine engineering is related to any engineering tasks on or near the oceans. This
includes design and development for shipping, submarines, oil rigs, on-board, harbours,
plants and more. This specialised area of engineering combines other types of
engineering, including mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, civil engineering,
and programming.
Geological engineering is associated with anything constructed on or within the Earth.
This discipline applies geological sciences and engineering principles to direct or
support the work of other disciplines such as civil engineering, environmental
engineering, and mining engineering. Geological engineers are involved with impact
studies for facilities and operations that affect surface and subsurface environments,
such as rock excavations (e.g. tunnels), building foundation consolidation, slope and fill
stabilization, landslide risk assessment, groundwater monitoring, groundwater
remediation, mining excavations, and natural resource exploration.

The types of Engineering are not limited to the above-

mentioned types, but the most popular and used types of
Engineering are mentioned in this section.