The Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussees (the National School of Bridges and Highways) was established in France in 1747. The first formal school of engineering. It represented the notion that builder of public structures-bridge, highway, sanitation and water supply systems-were a specialized professional group. The designation “civil engineer” was first used by John Smeaton (1724-92), and the first professional engineering society, the institution of Civil Engineers (known also as “The Smeatonians”; was founded in England in 1818. The specialization of mechanical engineering followed shortly. The skills of these engineers derived from the prodigious inventions of such men as James Watt, and paralleled the development of powered machine tools.
The growing dependence of engineering on scientific achievement was reflected in the curriculum of the Ecole Polytechnique (founded in Paris, 1795). Students there studied mathematics, physics, chemistry, and mechanics.
Between 1750 and 1850, civil and mechanical engineers were major participants in the rapid industrialization of western Europe and the United States. A summary of their accomplishments was presented at the Great Exhibition (London) of 1852, where working models of steam engines, and the profusion of machines such engines were by then powering, were displayed. The exhibition was held in the Crystal Palace, a splendid cast iron and glass structure.
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