Executive Search · Headhunter · Engineering · Technology

The History of Engineering

Early and ancient times

• Stone Age (ca. 2.5 million - 3000 BC)
  The first engineering skills are evident in toolmaking from stone, wood and bone. The construction of huts, boats and early irrigation systems are early technical masterpieces.
• Egypt, Mesopotamia (approx. 3000 - 500 BC)
  - Pyramid construction (e.g. the Great Pyramid of Giza).
  - Irrigation systems and canals on the Nile and Euphrates.
  - First written records of technical knowledge.
• Ancient Greece & Rome
  - Archimedes (lever law, screw for pumping water).
  - Roman aqueducts, road construction, harbor facilities (e.g. in Ostia).
  - Vitruvius: “Ten Books on Architecture” - early work on engineering practice.

Middle Ages

• Progress in civil engineering: Castles, cathedrals, water mills.
• Chinese engineers developed, among other things, the compass and advanced bridge techniques.
• Arab engineers translated ancient knowledge and supplemented it, for example, with an understanding of hydraulics and mechanics.

Renaissance and early modern period (15th-18th century)

• Rediscovery of classical engineering, scientific methodology takes hold.
• Leonardo da Vinci: Designs for flying machines, war machines, hydraulic engineering.
• Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton laid the foundations of physics - indispensable for modern engineering.

Industrial Revolution (18th-19th centuries)

• Birth of the modern engineering profession.
• Steam engine (James Watt), mechanization of production.
• Railway construction, large bridges (e.g. Britannia Bridge), factories.
• First technical colleges established (e.g. École Polytechnique in France, 1794).

20th century - Technological explosion

• Electrical engineering: Power grids, radio, television.
• Mechanical engineering: Cars, airplanes, rockets.
• Civil Engineering: Skyscrapers, dams.
• Informatics and computer technology: First computers, later the internet.
• Space travel: moon landing in 1969 - Engineering at the highest level.

21st century - digitalization & sustainability

• Engineers develop solutions for:
  - Climate protection (renewable energies, sustainable building materials).
  - mart Cities (intelligent infrastructures).
  - Biomedicine (e.g. 3D-printed organs).
  - Artificial intelligence and Robotics.
• Interdisciplinary collaboration is becoming increasingly important.

Source (2025): ChatGPT - History of Engineering.