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Civil Engineering History

• In the beginning, Civil Engineering included all engineers that did not practice military engineering; said to have begun in 18th century France.

• First “Civil Engineer” was an Englishman, John Smeaton in 1761.

• Civil engineers have saved more lives than all the doctors in history — development of clean water and sanitation systems.

• Henry H. White, first KY Civil Engineering Graduate from Bacon (Georgetown) College in 1840.

• Fall of 1886, “State College” (UK) established civil engineering degree.

• John Wesley Gunn of Lexington received first Civil Engineering degree from A & M College (UK) in 1890.

ORIGINS OF CIVIL ENGINEERING
Civil engineering has evolved tremendously in aspects relating to building, designing and maintaining the world’s built and natural environments. Historically, the term ‘civil engineering’ did not exist. It is only recently that engineers whose duties were civil and non- military were categorized as civil engineers to differentiate them from military engineers. A military engineer is one who makes ‘machines of war’. In ancient times the bridge, waterways, fortifications and machines of war were all projects also projects undertaken by the military engineer. Kings, Queens, Emperors or Pharaohs required these military building services from their engineers in order to build massive structures that created a powerful and imposing image of themselves. This was the ultimate form of self-promotion. The reason the ‘civil’ and ‘military’ engineers were grouped as one, was because the techniques of designing these projects were similar and one who worked on military construction projects also worked on civil projects. Also the structures such as roads, dams, buildings and bridges facilitated for the military agendas of certain rulers. Definitely, before the term civil engineer was coined, civil engineers were in existence. Millennia ago when the pyramids of the Mayan and Egyptian empires were building pyramids, the people designing and supervising the construction of the pyramids must have been an engineer. Certainly, those endowed with the responsibility of devising ways to solve the day to day problems of construction, transportation, water irrigation, city planning were engineers. The engineers of the past often worked on technical problems of their day by using mechanics, available materials and technicians of the day and often worked in areas that ranged from mechanical, military inventions to architecture, which involved the design of aesthetic structure and the overall shape and form of structures.

Taken from book named – “An Introduction to Civil Engineering” by Valdengrave Okumu

452 comments on "Civil Engineering History"

rajeshwari says:

which is the best career to choose as a fresher? rcc or steel? i m a ME Post graduate in structural engineering

ganesh says:

RCC is the best

RAVITEJA says:

Sir, I want two know about construction technique of Howrah bridge (kolkatha).

Amit Nishad says:

what about liquid nitrogen in concrete

CHETAN R GONI says:

sir,wat`s ur opinion on surveying ??????please can u explain,its my humble request to u

SAMADHAN DABDE says:

I was completed DIPLOMA IN CIVIL ENGINEERING (In june-2012).Please tell me BE PART TIME COLLEGES IN PUNE CITY (MAHARASHTRA )INDIA .& i wanted known Scope Have Diploma Engeering In Worldwide ? What i Will Be Do Please Suggest Me ?On My E-mail id ………….as mentioned .

sedhu says:

its just a fake identity that all blame civil as a worst and they dont even consider as a part of manwork…..so what do you say as a reply

akram khan says:

sir im a civil final year student! now im in 4-1!! so i kindley request u to suggest me a good field what to focus in 4-2!! im interested in doing structural and transport engineering..so which one is good structural or a transport?

prameela says:

how admixtures influence the strength of concrete

ravi sahu says:

you can prefer the book concrete technology or check the is code for admixture

dopendra parihar says:

why do curing of concrete?

Niraj Jha says:

for complete Chemical reaction……….resulting in strength of concrete.

Er.dopendra parihar work of i.g.n.t.u. says:

1.Why made of 43 and 53 grade of o.p.c. Cement ? 2.what is specific gravity and how find out its?

Bharathi Bhattu says:

The Strength of OPC depends up on the grade. for example 43 grade cement has 43Mpa and 53 has 53Mpa. the evolution of cement started with the grade of 33 and there by increasing in strength finally evolved as 53 grade cement. The recent cement found having highest grade is 73 having 73Mpa strength.. so bigger the grade high will be the strength.

RAHUL RAJAK says:

how admixtures influence the strength of concrete

Bharathi Bhattu says:

the function of admixture is to improve the quality of concrete.. and the quality of concrete depends upon the type of aggregate we choose.. like some are for increasing strength by reducing voids during curing of concrete, and some reduce the setting time by fastening the curing process. so much care should be taken in selecting the admixture. because the quality of concrete depends on admixture as said earlier.

shankar says:

because they are added to increase the strength

ASHRUF says:

Hi Sir, Can i know TOP 10 Civil Engineers in World

lakshmikar reddy says:

Tell about the evalution of civil engineering

lakshmikar reddy says:

currently i am studying civil engineering in third year. please tell any projects works regarding transportation engineering

R.balaji says:

What is mean fe500 steel?

srinivas says:

it mns strength of d steel is 500 N/mm2

Aquib Qadir says:

why this field of engineering is named as civil?
who was first lady civil engineer?

MUGARURA YONAH says:

help me and give me the over view of a report thanks

U.SWETHA says:

sir….,may i knw how girls can compete with boys in this field…of civil engineering

SHARMILEE.S says:

i have discontinued my civil engineering during my 3rd before 2 yrs.. now am going to rejoin in the same college in civil.. how can i pursue my studies further.. i also wanted to do higher studies… which field can i choose to pursue in higher studies.. in which field i should concentrate more…..

T.SARAVANA PANDIAN says:

I AM STUDING IN B.E 3RD YEAR .SACS MAVMM ENGG COLLEGE .I WANT TO KNOW ALL ABOUT MY DEPT DETAILS. IF U CAN SEND ME THE DETAILS TO MAIL ID.

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