Introduction to

Engineering
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Murat Fahrioglu

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Succeeding in Engineering
and Historical Perspective
 Objective of this course is to introduce you to
the profession of engineering, with emphasis
on electrical engineering
 What is Engineering? It is the struggle of
controlling forces and resources of nature, for
better living, protection, etc.
 Accumulation of these efforts creates a
technology, (communications technology,
semiconductors tech., broadcasting, satellite
tech., etc..)
 Engineers are the people who create
technology

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 Creativity
 Creativity is an essential ingredient of engineering
 Artists: They create for aesthetic purposes, functionality is not
important. (painters, musicians, sculptors, etc.).

 Craftsmen: They create for functionality with also an aesthetic

purpose, i.e. Origin of engineering. (carpenter, shoe makers..)
 Craftsmen solve daily problems by using existing technology.

 Engineers: We create with a functional purpose, aesthetics has

little importance until the design becomes a product
 Engineers solve problems and create for the benefit of humankind
by creating new technology.

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Responsibility

 Engineering is a conscientious creativity with a specific

and functional purpose.

 An engineer must have a good understanding of

mathematical theory, science, technology and analytical
tools that are relevant to the problem he/she is aiming to
solve.

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Engineering Technologist
(Technicians)
 Engineering technologists apply scientific and
engineering knowledge combined with their technical
skills to support engineering activities.

 Very close to an engineer but they are technicians that

help engineers do their job, e.g. Building contractor and
civil engineer, Printed Circuit Board (PCB) technician and
Microwave engineer.

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Engineering and Politics

 Both are expected to solve mankind's problems.

 Although engineers deal with technical problems,
very often engineering and politics intersect.
 Engineers are involved in projects with political
objectives, e.g. Building a nuclear bomb,
developing weapons, radar systems for protection,
ground penetrating radar (GPR) for detecting
landmines.
 Military applications and politics sometimes guide
engineering and technology, e.g. Space programs
of US by NASA, ASELSAN, BAE-Systems, Thales,
Racal, etc..
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Studying

 In 4th year: Specialized EEE courses with emphasis on

design.
 Social Sciences – Humanities courses are distributed over
years.
 Technical electives enable you to study the areas you are
interested.
 Engineers study hard while at the university and after
graduating from the university.

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How to Study?

 Be organized and schedule your time!

 Sleep=work=fun=8 hrs/day
 Therefore there are 5x8=40 working hrs/week
 Schedule your weekends and weekdays
 Study in a quiet place. Watching TV while studying
wastes a lot of time.
 All METU-NCC students are clever, but being clever is not
sufficient unless you study!

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Note Taking and Learning

 Understand what you wrote down, copying the

blackboard is not note taking. Do not take pictures
! Write them down!
 Do not be shy, ask questions, do not be afraid of
making mistakes, lecturers were once students too!
 Learn, do not memorize. Do not leave studying to
the night before the exam, otherwise you fail!
 Solve homework problems and understand the
solutions of the lecturer.
 In the exams you will not be asked the same
questions, therefore understand the principles.
 Visit the lecturers in their offices and ask questions
if you do not understand something.

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 Historical Perspective
 Mankind has experienced three major revolutions:
Hunter Gatherers

<1st revolution>
Agricultural Society

<2nd revolution>
Industrial Society

<3rd revolution>
Knowledge Society

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 Historical Perspective
 People hunted and picked food until there was a shortage of
food at the end of the ice-age. Thus, they had to raise their own
food and domesticate animals, this lead to agricultural society.
 From 3000 B.C. – 1300 A.D. (Anno Domini (Latin): year of the birth
of Jesus) people settled in villages and used wood to make utensils
and as an energy source.
 Population increased, shortage of food started, black plague/death
killed 75 million people in 14th century, wood was also scarce due
to the created farmlands. Coal was found as a new energy source
and industrial society was formed.
 Cities were formed to supply workforce to the industry.
 Scientists started questioning how things have happened rather
than why.
 If how something has happened can be explained, people can
control, manipulate and improve it. Problems can be solved if how
something works is explained.
 We are a Knowledge Society. Everything is based 11
on and
determined by information and knowledge.
 Historical Perspective
 Descartes showed that nature can be quantified (weight, speed,
acceleration, power, current, noise, etc.) and mathematics is
needed to explain the how.

 Newton founded the fundamentals of calculus and mechanics.

Mechanical systems could be mathematically modeled and their
behavior predicted before constructing a system. Very important
for engineering!

 Maxwell developed a set of equations for electricity, magnetism

and inductance. He demonstrated that electric and magnetic fields
travel through space, in the form of waves and at the speed of
light.
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 Beginnings of Engineering
Egypt and Mesopotamia
 The invention of wheel, yoke and plow have
facilitated growing more food.
 Animal hair and vegetable fiber was woven into
linen to make clothes.
 All these raw materials were used by craftspeople,
carpenters, potters, bakers, etc. to produce goods.
 In order to predict the river flooding, astronomers
developed geometry and arithmetic. Canals were
built for irrigation which also required mathematical
calculations.
 Copper was obtained from copper ore. Then
bronze was obtained by mixing copper and tin
(lower melting point but harder).
 Measurement techniques and calculation of areas,
volumes, weights, calendar, and the invention of
bronze all happened in Egypt and Mesopotamia
 Mesopotamians developed methods to solve
simultaneous equations as well.
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 Beginnings of Engineering
Greece and Rome
 Greeks made advances in sailing and ship construction
 Romans were excellent civil engineers. They built roads, aqueducts that
required very precise measurements of distance and angle, hot water heating
systems.
 Animals and waterwheels were used as power sources.
 Arabs developed paper making techniques, chemistry and optics
 Chinese developed clocks, astrological instruments and gunpowder
 But in Dark and Middle Ages, it was accepted that God has created world and it is
perfect. There is no need to change.
 Creativity was limited since engineers were in the service of politicians,
philosophers and generals.
 In Latin ingeniare means to design or devise. Ingeniator was used in 1200 to
describe a person who operated machines of war.
 Funding for engineering came from governments not only for civilian but also for
offensive and defensive military applications . This continues today.
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Industrial Age

 Gutenberg invented movable printing-press. This has helped

dissemination of information (1454).
 Galileo discovered gravitational acceleration is independent
of weight. Earth moves around the sun (1600).
 Barometer was developed by Pascal and Toricelli.
 Boyle discovered the relationship between temperature,
volume and pressure.
 Newton and Leibniz developed differential calculus.
 Tomas Savery patented steam pump (1698)
 Newcomen, Watt and Fulton developed the steam engine.
 Lenoir developed first automobile engine that uses gas and
air (1860) 15
 Leyden developed a device that can hold static electric charge,
i.e. a capacitor. (1746), “Leyden Jar”.
 Coulomb showed that the force of attraction/repulsion
between charged spheres is inversely proportional to the
square of the distance. (1785).
 Volta discovered battery (1782)
 Ampere had experimentally shown the flow of electrical current.
 Faraday found that electricity was induced on a wire by changing
the surrounding magnetic field. (1822, 1831)
 Maxwell developed equations that related electrical conductivity,
electric, magnetic field and mechanical force (1865). Hertz
experimentally confirmed Maxwell´s equations 20 years later.
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 Bose transmitted electric signals through space (1895).
Marconi achieved wireless communications between UK
and US (1903).
 Transistor was invented in 1940-1947.
 First computer was designed in 1945.

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