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The rise of the engineering profession in eighteenth century Europe: an introductory overview

2011; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 3; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/19378629.2011.626051

1940-8374

Hélène Vérin, Irina Gouzévitch,

Historical Studies in Science

Abstract Much work remains to be done on the role of engineers in Europe in the eighteenth century and we do not, in this short introductory survey, claim to offer an exhaustive historical perspective. Instead, we try to provide a framework within which to capture, by means of examples, the main lines of development. At this stage, it is not possible to cover all the national cases, nor even to provide a fully comparative analysis of those studies that have been undertaken. The aim is more modest: to suggest some hypotheses based on individual research and wide reading. For its initial results and a large bibliography on the question: Vérin and Gouzévitch, Sobre la Institucion y el Desarrollo de la Ingeneria, 2005, 115–64. The century of European enlightenment (1697–1815), characterized by exchanges between scientists and academies, is also that of economic rivalry, technical competition, political conflict, and war. All these factors combine to produce in Europe a new practice of engineering in the midst of transformation. Yet, depending upon the country, we can observe significant differences in the strategies of knowledge appropriation in order to promote the growth of technology, a great variety in the training of engineers as well as in the exercise of their profession, their social status, even their title of engineer. Some common points are: the importance of military engineering which profits from the attentions of governments, the very progressive introduction of sciences in the practice of engineers, and the creation of special schools. But, once again, depending upon the country, these schools are grafted onto particular traditional teachings. Accordingly we propose a typology of the country-specific training and education of engineers in eighteenth century Europe. Keywords: EuropeEuropean engineerengineeringtechnical cultureenlightenmentidentityeighteenth centurytrainingofficeengineering knowledge Notes 1Delorme, Chronologie des Civilisations, 242–89. 2Alder, Engineering the Revolution, 1997. 3Bret, L'Etat, l'Armée, la Science, 2003. 4Vogel, Les Mines Dans les Pays Germaniques, 2011. 5Vérin, "Expertise et Etat Fondé en Raison", 2011, 175–95. 6Folard, Nouvelles Découvertes Sur la Guerre, 1724; Folard, Histoire de Polybe, 1729–30. 7This idea was expressed in: Zastrow, Mémoires Sur la Fortification Tennaillée et Polygonale, 1828. 8Gouzévitch and Gouzévitch, "La Russie et la Culture technique Française", 2004, pp. 521–58. 9Hahn, L'Anatomie d'Une Institution Scientifique, 1993. 10Gouzévitch and Gouzévitch, "Le 'Grand Tour' des Ingénieurs", 2006, pp. 147–90. 11Diderot and d'Alembert, Discours Préliminaire de l'Encyclopédie, 1965, p. 162. 12The Avertissement (1751), prefacing the vol. I of the Encyclopédie. 13Jacob, The Cultural Meaning of the Scientific Revolution, 1988. 14Jacob, The Cultural Foundations of Early Industrialization, 67–85. 15The Encyclopédie méthodique par ordre des matières ('Methodical Encyclopedia by Order of Subject Matter') is a 210 volumes encyclopedia published between 1782 and 1832 by the French philosopher-librarian Charles Joseph Panckoucke, his son-in-law and partner Henri Agasse, and the latter's wife, Thérèse-Charlotte Agasse. It was a revised and much expanded version, arranged by disciplines, of the originally alphabetically arranged Encyclopédie, edited by Denis Diderot and Jean Le Rond D'Alembert. It numbered more than thousand contributions. The full title is: L'Encyclopédie méthodique ou par ordre de matières par une société de gens de lettres, de savants et d'artistes; précédée d'un Vocabulaire universel, servant de Table pour tout l'Ouvrage, ornée des Portraits de MM. Diderot et d'Alembert, premiers Éditeurs de l'Encyclopédie. 16Given the extent of the subject, we have chosen to supply the most typical and/or most explicit examples by diversifying at the same time the geography. 17Virol, Vauban, 2003; Vérin, Entrepreneurs, Entreprise, 2011. 18Marsh, "Du Cercle Privé à l'Antichambre de l'Université", 1986, pp. 241–54. 19De Lorenzo, "Problèmes de Mesure", 2009, pp. 435–70. 20Myllyntaus, "Foreign Models and National Styles in Teaching technology", 2004, pp. 141–52. 21Rumeu de Armas, El Real Gabinete de maquinas del Buen Retiro, 1990; Gouzévitch, "Le Cabinet des Machines de Betancourt", 2010, pp. 85–118; Puig-Pla and Sánchez Miñana, Conèixer i Construir Màquines, 2009, pp. 113–37. 22Dolza and Vérin, "Les Théătres de Machines", 2003, pp. 8–20. 23Vérin, La Gloire des Ingénieurs, 1993, p. 300. 24Romano, La Contre-Réforme Mathématique, 1999. 25Sarton, "Simon Stevin of Bruges", 1934, p. 244. 26Vérin and Dolza, "Dal Livre al Theatrum di Jacques Besson", 2001. 27Efmertova, "L'Evolution de l'Enseignement Technique Tchèque", 1999, p. 69. 28Derry and Williams, A Short History of Technology, 1960; Wagner, "Danish Polytechnical Education", 1993, pp. 145–63; Diogo and Matos, "Apprendre a Ser Ingeniero", 2006, pp. 124–45. 29The name Ecole polytechnique replaced, in 1795, that of Ecole centrale des travaux publics. 30Fourcy, Histoire de l'Ecole Polytechnique, 219. 31For Robert Fox, who analyzed this paradox, the frequent reference to this model in various European countries was employed as a kind of rhetoric used to justify the request for reform or the call for resources. Fox, Les Regards Etrangers Sur l'Ecole Polytechnique, 63–74.