INGENIEUR
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Engineering Fraternity
By Pang Soo Mooi
Important Roles of every member of the Engineering Fraternity
The engineering team for any engineering project is made up of several different roles that support one another and collaborate closely throughout the construction or production process . An effective engineering team will include a combination of engineers , technologists , technicians , tradesmen , artisans , right up to operators . Often , team members who are not engineers are given less attention and visibility although they are recognised for their important roles and contribution to the completion of the project .
The steps taken by the Board of Engineers Malaysia to register Engineering Technologists and Inspector of Works reflect the recognition of their roles within the engineering fraternity .
The History of Technicians ’ work - Royal Society
Although the history of the technician ’ s work has been absent from the published historical record until recently , highly skilled workers were essential to the great engineering achievements of the classical world . Between about AD 700 and 1400 , they were central to the architectural and engineering successes of the Islamic and
Chinese empires , and they can be glimpsed as support personnel to the well-known artistengineers of late medieval and Renaissance Europe . The earliest ‘ big ’ science , requiring large numbers of assistants , at least in Europe , was to be found in Tycho Brahe ’ s observatory on the island of Hven between 1576 and 1597 . Here , acting as a visionary Mæcenas , he brought together high-precision instruments and teams of printers , poets , scholars , technical assistants and instrument-makers to create what John Robert Christianson called a ‘ complex , multi-dimensional research institute ’. Tycho managed to reproduce and renew various features of the team that he treated as one big ‘ family ’ and co-ordinated a Europe-wide network of correspondents , many of whom he had trained himself .
Everything about his project was performed on a massive scale , in keeping with his ambition . At one point , for example , paper shortages led him to build his own paper mill so that he could print his Introduction to the Instauration of Astronomy — a task that in turn required the recruitment and supervision of many men to build dams . New personnel were hired when he set up shop in Prague in the summer of 1599 under the patronage of Rudolf II , and by the time he died just over two years later , he had worked with over 100 assistants of various sorts .
Although he craved a Tychonic degree of status and state support , the First Astronomer Royal of England , John Flamsteed , remained bitter and frustrated for most of the four and a half decades that he held the post ( from 1675 ). Nevertheless , he worked closely with assistants such as James Hodgson , Joseph Crosthwait and Abraham Sharp , all of whom lived on-site as part of Flamsteed ’ s household . Despite the long hours and tedious nature of the work , they remained supportive colleagues after they left Flamsteed ’ s employ , and even after his death .
Although their tasks changed , the formal requirements for astronomical assistants did not alter greatly before the mid-19 th century . Nevil Maskelyne , who held the same post from 1765 for a slightly longer period than Flamsteed , began with one assistant who performed observations , reduced the data and did computations under his direction . Most of his assistants were schoolmasters , and many left after a few weeks ,
36 VOL 90 APRIL-JUNE 2022