Engineering and the Minds Eye

Author: Eugene S. Ferguson

Presented by: Nikhil Singh
 the minds eye is a well developed organ that not
only reviews the contents of a visual memory but
also forms such new or modified images as the
minds thought require

The mind's eye, the locus of our images of

remembered reality and imagined contrivance, is an
organ of incredible capacity and subtlety. Collecting
and interpreting much more than the information
[entering the optical eyes], the mind's eye is an
organ in which a lifetime of sensory information [in
all its forms] -- is stored, interconnected and
interrelated.
The nature of Engineering
Design
the differences between the direct design of
the artisan and the design drawing of the
engineer are differences of format rather than
differences of conception
Design has two principal purposes
Show the designers how the ideas look on paper
They show the workers all idea needed to produce
the object
Designs are based on practical judgments
The case of design of airplanes
Design as Invention
invention causes things to come into
existence from ideas, makes world conform to
thought; whereas science, by deriving ideas
from observation, makes though confirm to
existence

form follows function is not true.

Newcomens design of steam engine to power a
water pump
Design as Invention
Because inventors and designers nearly
always devise new combinations of familiar
elements to accomplish novel results, links to
known technology are inevitably present

a creative technologist possesses a mental

set of stock solutions from which he draws in
addressing problems
Edisons rotating drum or cylinder
The process of Design
1900 designers were in touch with world
they have designed, e.g. Ohio Railroad
Late 1950s only sketches would suffice
1961-Panoramic Design Technique
Block diagram cant explain the process as
The idea is in engineers mind long before need
being articulated
Steps in design process maybe all going at once
The process
design is not a totally formal affair, drawings
and specifications come into existence as a
result of a social process.
Members of a design group can be expected
to have divergent views of the most desirable
ways to accomplish the work.
Designers engage in informal negotiations,
discussions, laughter, and banter as they
wind their way to the final outcome. Like
learning, design is a social process.
Origins of Modern Engineering
at least 80 percent of engineers work with
technologies have been around for decades
or even centuries
Bronze water pumps used in Roman mines
The secret of design
For the plans to be effective the system being
planned must be predictable and controllable
1720 Artillery School, 1749 Military
Engineering, 1775 School of civil work
designing, 1794 polytechnique in Paris
The tools of visualization
Pictorial Perspective (linear perspective)
Fifteenth century
one eyed observer rooted at the spot
Orthographic projections engineering
drawing
Shows three views of the subject
Eighteenth century
Study Models
Acquaint observers with unfamiliar structures
Fourteenth century
Tools of visual analysis
the advantages of graphical statics are
qualitative, presenting in the calculations a
sense of what's going on a feel and
permitting the engineer to build in the minds
eye a vision of forces in a complex structure

Answer questions such as Does it look right

and Are the numerical answers reasonable
Promise and Performance
Refers to Henry Petroskis book

The computers apparent precision, can give

engineers an unwarranted confidence in the
validity of the resulting numbers

Engineers need to be constantly reminded

that all engineering failures result from faulty
judgments rather than faulty calculations
Summary/Quotes
An engineering education that neglects
nonverbal thinking, such as diagramming
techniques and skills, produces a new breed
of engineers who are dangerously ignorant of
reality and the ways in which it differs from
mathematical models constructed in
academia

engineers must "think and communicate

visually."
Summary/Quotes
"Elite engineering schools are increasingly turning out
students more familiar with mathematics than
machinery: graduates, as one working engineer told
me a decade ago, 'who can't make anything, not
anything I need.' That is about as cruel as you can
be in talking about an engineer."

The real problem of engineering education is the

implicit acceptance of the notion that high-status
analytical courses are superior to those that
encourage the student to develop an intuitive "feel"
for the incalculable complexity of engineering practice
in the real world.
Thank you

-- nikhil