Mechanical Engineering Magazine

The role of engineers in post-War America was being debated when this article was being published in June 1947.

The author, a past president of ASME, urged engineers to break out of their specialty focus and become engaged with the wider society.

By. R.M. Gates, President, Air Preheater Corp., New York, N. Y.

ENGINEERS ARE ALSO CITIZENS

It may seem that I am urging engineers to give up their jobs and devote themselves to politics, or at least to neglect their chosen profession for competition in another field already overcrowded with willing workers. Of course that is not at all my purpose. It is, rather, to suggest that too few engineers, as compared with members of other professions, are actively interested in public affairs as citizens of their respective communities and of the nation; that the engineering approach is too little utilized in the solution of problems of common concern outside of the conventional engineering field; and that engineers need to rethink their responsibilities as citizens in a society confused and floundering in efforts to adjust itself to new powers and new possibilities. Every engineer should find some time to give to civic responsibilities, and this without neglect of his professional duties. Engineering will benefit by the inspiration that grows out of these wider contacts.

One could find many engineers who have engaged actively in the life and service of their communities along lines having little or no relation to their professional activities. They have advanced philanthropy, worked in welfare activities, served as trustees of civic organizations or institutions, and led civic movements. They have maintained contact with the political machinery of their communities, served on political committees, and taken active parts in local political life.

But by and large is not a definite detachment from the political structure of our society—the basic structure, in a sense—the more common practice among engineers? In that detachment from the nontechnical world may be found the reason for some lack of recognition, by public authorities and by the people at large, of the variety of services which the engineering profession can render, and should be called upon to render, in the solution of community problems.

Since community organization is at the base of the whole structure of government, it is here that the engineer may well first try his wings as an active citizen. Responsibilities taken at this level lead to larger responsibilities he may be well qualified to take and may find satisfaction in taking. Thus an unfortunate gap in communication between our profession and the broad field of public service, unfortunate for the national welfare, may be gradually bridged.

The Committee on Engineering Education, the Engineers’ Civic Respon-
sibilities Committee, and other committees of the
Engineering Societies have been emphasizing this
responsibility of engineers. They have recognized not
only that engineering education must train prospec-
tive engineers as to their civic responsibilities but also
that such education is futile if not followed up by active
participation. The old adage that we learn by doing is
no less applicable to the engineer as citizen than to
the engineer as engineer. It is never, too late to begin.
Indeed the responsibility increases as acquaintance,
connections, and standing increase opportunity. ME
ON THE CLOCK

How many minutes to midnight? Since it was first published in Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists in June 1947, the Doomsday Clock has tracked the waxing and waning of the threat of global nuclear war. The Clock was conceived by Chicago-based researchers who had worked on the Manhattan Project and has been maintained since 1947 by members of the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board. With global catastrophe as “midnight,” the Clock’s original setting in 1947 was seven minutes to midnight. It has been set both back and forward 22 times since, hitting two minutes (1953) and seventeen (1991). Since 2007, climate change and potentially harmful science and technology developments have also been reflected. This

January, the Clock was advanced to 11:57: 30, reflecting the rise of “strident nationalism” across the globe and the lack of political will to tackle climate change.