Regarding engineering development issues

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Zurab Samkharadze
Givi Sanadze

Abstract

The paper discusses the main stages of engineering development and its role in the development of civilization. Emphasis is placed on the use of simple mechanisms from the ancient period to the creation and subsequent evolution of grandiose structures for that period. Engineering has gone through quite difficult stages and has become one of the main forces in the development of civilization. Engineering arose when people felt the need to transform the nature around them and created simple mechanisms such as pulleys, levers, wheels, etc. However, the term "engineering" itself has a more recent origin. An engineer in the Middle Ages was a person who designed, built, and operated siege weapons such as catapults, trebuchets, and more. Sumerian and Akkadian Ziggurats, Pyramids and Lighthouse of Alexandria in Ancient Egypt, Indus Valley Cities, Aqueducts in Minoan Crete, Parthenon and Colossus of Rhodes in Ancient Greece, Roman Aqueduct, Appius Way, Roman Coliseum and Pantheon, Pre-Columbian Cities and Pyramids, Great Wall of China and many other structures It testifies to the ingenuity and skill of ancient engineers. Huge structures were created using simple mechanisms, such as the Pyramid of Cheops. The first minister of Pharaoh Djoser, the founder of the third dynasty of ancient Egypt, who is known to us as Imhotep, is considered to be the first architect and engineer. Early machines powered by water - the water wheel and the water mill - first appeared in the Achaemenid Empire in the early 4th century BC. The ancient Greeks created machines for both civilian and military purposes. They are credited with creating the Antikythera Mechanism - one of the first mechanical computers created in the 2nd century BC. The famous philosopher Archimedes was not only fruitfully engaged in theoretical research, but he also created several mechanisms, such as the Archimedes screw, which was used as a pump. The first attempt to consider engineering as a special type of activity can be considered the work of Vitruvius "Ten Books on Architecture". It makes the first attempts to describe the engineer's activity process. Vitruvius focuses on methods important to the engineer, such as reasoning and invention. In the Middle Ages, people were able to harness the power of the wind. The windmill and the wind pump appeared in the 9th century in the Abbasid Caliphate, which was then in its golden age. Later, windmills became widespread throughout Eurasia. In the first millennium, gunpowder was invented in China, which soon began to be used in military affairs. Gunpowder fireworks, used for public entertainment at celebrations and festivals, gave rise to the first military rockets. In 1698, Englishman Thomas Severy invented a steam-powered water pump for pumping water out of mines. In 1712, another pump was created by Thomas Newcomen based on the design of the French explorer Denis Papin. The 19th and 20th centuries were a time of great social transformations that would not have been possible without the achievements of science and engineering. The 19th century is associated with the "appearance" of electrical equipment. Early in this century, theoretical research on electricity by Alessandro Volta, Andre-Marie Ampere, Michael Faraday, Georg Ohm, and other researchers led to the invention of the electric telegraph, the electric motor in 1872, the telephone in the 1870s, and the electric tramway in the 1880s. The role of this field in the development of civilization can be seen from the discussion of the stages of engineering development. Engineering has gone through quite difficult stages. Its evolution was related to human needs and became one of the main forces in the development of civilization.

Keywords:
Engineering, technologies, history, simple mechanisms, structures, civilization, inventions
Published: Dec 16, 2024

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