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Cover image of What Engineers Know and How They Know It
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What Engineers Know and How They Know It

Analytical Studies from Aeronautical History

Walter G. Vincenti
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To solve their design problems engineers draw in a vast body of knowledge about how things work. This problem-solving knowledge may appear mundane or derivative from science, but in What Engineers Know and How They Know It Walter G. Vincenti shows how sophisticated and "internal" to engineering it really is-and how seemingly simple design requirements can have complex intellectual implications. Examining previously unstudied historical cases, Vincenti shows how engineering knowledge is obtained and, in the book's concluding chapters, presents a model to help explain the growth of such...

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To solve their design problems engineers draw in a vast body of knowledge about how things work. This problem-solving knowledge may appear mundane or derivative from science, but in What Engineers Know and How They Know It Walter G. Vincenti shows how sophisticated and "internal" to engineering it really is-and how seemingly simple design requirements can have complex intellectual implications. Examining previously unstudied historical cases, Vincenti shows how engineering knowledge is obtained and, in the book's concluding chapters, presents a model to help explain the growth of such knowledge.

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Reviews

'Must' reading for all thoughtful engineers and historians of technology, and even for those physical scientists who wonder why engineers frequently act and think differently than do basic scientists.

— American Scientist

The biggest contribution of Vincenti's splendidly crafted book may well be that it offers us a believably human image of the engineer.

— Technology Review

The biggest contribution of Vincenti's splendidly crafted book may well be that it offers us a believably human image of the engineer.

— Techology Review
About

Book Details

Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
6
x
9
Pages
336
ISBN
9780801845888
DOI
Illustration Description
36 b&w illus.
Series
Subject
Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments
1. Introduction: Engineering As Knowledge
2. Design and the Growth of Knowledge: The David Wing and the Problem of Airfoil Design, 1980-1945
3. Establishment of Design

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Preface and Acknowledgments
1. Introduction: Engineering As Knowledge
2. Design and the Growth of Knowledge: The David Wing and the Problem of Airfoil Design, 1980-1945
3. Establishment of Design Requirements: Flying-Quality Specifications for American Aircraft, 1918-1943
4. A Theoretical Tool for Design: Control-Volume Analysis, 1912-1953
5. Data for Design: The Aur Propeller Test of W.F. Durand and E.P. Lesley, 1916-1926
6. Design and Production: The Innovation of Flush Riveting in American Airplanes, 1930-1950
7. The Anatomy of Engineering Design Knowledge
8. A Variation-Selection Model for the Growth of Engineering Knowledge
Notes
Index

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Author Bio
Featured Contributor

Walter G. Vincenti

Walter G. Vincenti is professor emeritus of aeronautical engineering at Stanford university, past chairman of Stanford's Program in Values, Technology, Science, and Society, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
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