The Obligation: A History of the Order of the Engineer

by Kip A. Wedel

Overview

A History of the Order of the Engineer Engineering is more than number crunching. It is a matter of life and death. In 1907, when engineering errors led to a Canadian bridge collapse that killed seventy-five men, the profession's moral obligations were stark and obvious. Engineers increasingly realized that technical expertise was not enough, and in 1925, a group of Canadian engineers formally and publicly promised to uphold the highest ethical standards. To remind themselves of their pledge, they fashioned iron rings to be worn on the outer finger. Unfortunately, for decades engineers in the United States had no similar institution. Then, on a summer day in 1970, 170 engineers, students, and teachers met on the campus of Cleveland State University for the first ceremony of what would become the Order of the Engineer. Today, the stainless steel rings worn by the Orders members are recognized throughout the world as the outward sign of an inward commitment to ethical engineering. This is the story of the Orders origins and expansion.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781477219676
Publisher:	AuthorHouse
Publication date:	07/09/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	196
File size:	8 MB

About the Author

Kip A. Wedel teaches history and sociology at Bethel College in North Newton, Kansas. He holds a Ph.D. in history from Kansas State University and has research interests in history of American capitalism and labor as well as the social history of American technology and American economic and religious history, Canadian history, and the history of mass communications. His articles have appeared in scholarly journals in the United States and Europe. Prior to his academic career, Kip worked as a journalist in three Midwestern and Western states. An entrepreneur and former business owner he owned and published a weekly newspaper in Iowa from 1997 to 2003. "Journalists could use something like the Order of the Engineer's Obligation," he said. "Personal commitment to the highest ethical standards would not exactly hurt them." When not teaching and writing, Kip and his wife look after two unruly cats.