Mechanical Engineers

We learned in school that the Industrial Revolution began in Europe, specifically in Britain, in the mid-eighteenth century, with the invention of machines capable of manufacturing products without human involvement. But what does that actually mean? For any machine to work, it needs an engine — that's essentially its operating system. So the Industrial Revolution wasn't really about the invention of the machine, but about the invention of the engine that would power the various machines used to manufacture products. And here we're talking about the steam engine developed by mechanical engineer James Watt in 1776, which some consider one of the most important inventions in history — the one that most machines of that era would come to depend on, and which paved the way for the different types of engines that would later be used in trains, cars, and airplanes. James Watt is one of the most important mechanical engineers humanity has ever known — he's even described as "the father of mechanical engineering." When we talk about mechanical engineering, you should understand it's the foundation of most modern inventions — without it, there would be no cars, no trains, no planes, no spacecraft, no air conditioning. Mechanical engineering is the science concerned with designing, manufacturing, and developing all the mechanical parts and components responsible for the movement of every vehicle in the world. Mechanical engineers are responsible for designing and manufacturing engines, power generators, and operating systems for all vehicles, factory machinery, elevators, escalators, and agricultural machines, and they oversee the manufacturing of the parts responsible for heat transfer in air conditioning units. There are also mechanical engineers who work in the field of biomedical engineering, designing and manufacturing prosthetic limbs, on top of mechanical engineering being the foundation of manufacturing and developing the humanoid robots found in factories.

Meet the Writer: Waleed Abo Omiraa