Engineering is on the coronary heart of any STEM schooling because it entails arithmetic, science, and expertise. No matter whether or not you’re speaking about civil, mechanical, electrical, chemical, or industrial engineering, all of them play a significant position in our society. Engineers push the boundaries of utilized science whereas fixing many issues plaguing society. Engineering additionally pushes society ahead by being on the reducing fringe of innovation. At the moment’s college students might be tomorrow’s engineers so instructing them concerning the historical past of the sector can assist them develop the problem-solving expertise essential to succeed. Take a look at our checklist of well-known engineers each scholar ought to know!
1. Nikola Tesla (1856–1943)
Nikola Tesla was a Serbian American inventor and engineer. A lot of his innovations centered round the opportunity of wi-fi communication. Tesla spoke on his achievements throughout public lectures the place he used showmanship to attraction to celebrities and rich patrons. Whereas he died in relative obscurity, in 1960 the Normal Convention on Weights and Measures named the Worldwide System of Items (SI) measurement of magnetic flux density the tesla.
Study extra: Nikola Tesla at Historical past.com
2. Thomas Edison (1847–1931)
Thomas Edison was an American inventor and businessman who contributed to the event of many fields. Edison might be one of many first names that come to thoughts when fascinated about well-known engineers and for good motive since he aided within the invention of the phonograph, the movement image digicam, and early variations of the sunshine bulb. He additionally based the primary industrial analysis laboratory.
Study extra: Thomas Edison at Library of Congress
3. Gustave Eiffel (1832–1923)
Gustave Eiffel was a French engineer who performed a task within the design and development of varied bridges and the French railway community. He’s finest identified for the design and development of the Eiffel Tower. He additionally contributed to the constructing of the Statue of Liberty. Following his retirement, he made vital contributions within the fields of each meteorology and aerodynamics.
Study extra: Gustave Eiffel at American Society of Civil Engineers
4. Henry Ford (1863–1947)
Ford labored as an engineer for the Edison Illuminating Firm in Detroit. He constructed the primary gasoline-powered carriage, generally known as the Quadricycle, throughout his time with the Edison Firm. In 1903, Ford based the Ford Motor Firm, which was answerable for rolling out the Mannequin T car, and ultimately introducing expertise with the intention to mass-produce them. Whereas he was extremely influential within the industrial world, he drew criticism for his anti-Semitic views.
Study extra: Henry Ford at Historical past.com
5. Emily Roebling (1843–1903)
Emily Warren Roebling was an American socialite, builder, and businesswoman. Her husband, Washington Augustus Roebling, was the chief engineer of the Brooklyn Bridge. When he grew to become too sick to proceed working, Emily took over his duties, largely overseeing the development of the bridge between 1869 and 1893.
Study extra: Emily Roebling at Britannica
6. Elon Musk (b. 1971)
One of many youngest well-known engineers on our checklist, and maybe one of the crucial controversial, Elon Musk was born in South Africa. He co-founded PayPal, fashioned SpaceX, and was one of many first buyers and CEO of the electric-car firm Tesla. Extra lately, he acquired Twitter and altered its title to X.
Study extra: Elon Musk at Britannica
7. Hedy Lamarr (1914–2000)
Hedy Lamarr was a placing Austrian American actress well-known for starring in movies like Samson and Delilah and White Cargo. Lamarr was additionally sensible and answerable for pioneering the expertise that might assist within the growth of Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth communication methods.
Study extra: Hedy Lamarr at Nationwide Ladies’s Historical past Museum
8. Alexander Graham Bell (1847–1922)
An apparent selection for any checklist of well-known engineers, Alexander Graham Bell was finest identified for inventing the phone. He first developed the thought for digital speech as a means to assist his hearing-impaired mom. He additionally invented the microphone. Graham Bell took over the little-known Nationwide Geographic Society on the flip of the century and reworked Nationwide Geographic Journal from a dry journal to at least one stuffed with lovely pictures and intriguing writing.
Study extra: Alexander Graham Bell at PBS
9. Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)
Leonardo da Vinci was one of many biggest painters of the Italian Renaissance, however he was additionally an engineer, architect, and inventor. Whereas he’s finest identified for portray the Mona Lisa and The Final Supper, he was the primary to attract up plans for what would ultimately develop into a helicopter.
Study extra: Leonardo da Vinci at Historical past.com
10. Ada Lovelace (1815–1852)
Ada Lovelace belongs on any checklist of well-known engineers since she is taken into account by many to be the primary laptop programmer. English mathematician Charles Babbage developed the primary prototype of a digital laptop, nevertheless it was Lovelace who created the primary program for it. Lovelace’s father was the famed poet Lord Byron. Throughout her formative years, she was privately tutored, self-educated, after which lastly helped in her superior research by the primary professor of arithmetic on the College of London.
Study extra: Ada Lovelace at Britannica
11. Archimedes (287–212 BCE)
Dwelling throughout the third century BCE, Archimedes was the primary to find that the amount of a sphere is two-thirds the amount of the cylinder that encloses it. He additionally found a legislation of buoyancy and allegedly invented a screw enclosed in a pipe that raised water from one stage to a different.
Study extra: Archimedes at Britannica
12. Aprille Ericsson-Jackson (b. 1963)
Aprille Ericsson-Jackson was the primary African American lady to obtain a PhD in mechanical engineering from Howard College. She was additionally the primary African American lady civil servant to earn an engineering PhD on the NASA Goddard House Flight Middle. Throughout her decades-long profession with NASA, she has labored as an aerospace engineer, venture and program supervisor and government, and a technologist. Her contributions to the designing of spacecraft and devices has been important in gaining a greater understanding of area science.
Study extra: Aprille Ericsson-Jackson at Small Enterprise Innovation Analysis
13. Lillian Gilbreth (1878–1972)
Lillian Gilbreth was an industrial/organizational psychologist who was a pioneer within the discipline of making use of psychology to time and movement research. Along with being a psychologist, she was one of many first feminine engineers to earn a PhD. The 1948 movie Cheaper by the Dozen was primarily based on her life and the way she utilized the idea of business engineering to working a big household.
Study extra: Lillian Gilbreth at Nationwide Ladies’s Historical past Museum
14. Carl Benz (1844–1929)
Carl Benz was a German engine designer and automotive engineer, and his Benz patent motorcar was the primary fashionable car in sequence manufacturing. Also known as the daddy of the car, he acquired a patent for his motorcar in 1886. He was additionally granted the primary flat engine patent in 1896.
Study extra: Carl Benz at Britannica
15. Satya Nadella (b. 1967)
Indian American enterprise government Satya Nadella is the manager chairman and CEO of Microsoft, overseeing a lot of the corporate’s acquisitions and improvements in expertise. Previous to turning into CEO, he was integral to the constructing and working of Microsoft’s computing platforms.
Study extra: Satya Nadella at Britannica
16. George Stephenson (1781–1848)
George Stephenson was an English civil and mechanical engineer who developed the “Rocket,” an early railway locomotive. Alongside together with his son Robert, he was a pioneer in rail transport and was essential to the event of the primary passenger railways.
Study extra: George Stephenson at Britannica
17. Kate Gleason (1865–1933)
Kate Gleason was born in Rochester, New York, and studied mechanical arts at Cornell College in 1884. She started her engineering profession at a machine-tool manufacturing unit that her father owned. Alongside together with her father, she designed a machine that might mass-produce beveled gears. Because of her success within the machine-tool enterprise, she grew to become the primary lady elected to membership within the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).
Study extra: Kate Gleason at Engineer Lady
18. George Washington Carver (1864–1943)
George Washington Carver was born into slavery, although he would ultimately earn a grasp’s diploma in agricultural science from Iowa State College. He’s credited with discovering a whole lot of makes use of for peanuts, soybeans, pecans, and candy potatoes. Carver taught and performed analysis at Tuskegee College for many years.
Study extra: George Washington Carver at Historical past.com
19. Chris Toumazou (b. 1961)
Chris Toumazou is an English Cypriot digital engineer who co-invented semi-conductor DNA sequencing. This invention would revolutionize genetic testing. Toumazou has additionally gained the European Patent Workplace European Inventor Award for this and different healthcare-related improvements.
Study extra: Chris Toumazou at TedMed
20. Yvonne Brill (1924–2013)
Yvonne Brill was a Canadian American rocket and jet propulsion engineer who was concerned with each NASA and the Worldwide Maritime Satellite tv for pc Group. Her invention of the Electrothermal Hydrazine Thruster helps to maintain satellites in orbit. Throughout her time at NASA, she oversaw the event of rocket engines for his or her area shuttles. Like many well-known engineers, she has additionally gained quite a few awards and been bestowed with many honors.
Study extra: Yvonne Brill at Smithsonian Establishment
21. Steve Wozniak (b. 1950)
American Stephen Wozniak holds many titles together with, however not restricted to, entrepreneur, electrical engineer, laptop scientist, laptop programmer, philanthropist, and inventor. He’s finest identified for co-founding Apple Pc with Steve Jobs. Apple would go on to develop into probably the most well-known expertise firm on the planet.
Study extra: Steve Wozniak at Britannica
22. Wright Brothers (Wilbur 1867–1912; Orville 1871–1948)
People Wilbur and Orville Wright had been Midwestern businessmen and bicycle mechanics who many credit score with the invention of the airplane. They accomplished the primary profitable flight in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in 1903. And these aviation pioneers by no means even attended faculty!
Study extra: Wright Brothers at Historical past.com
23. Andrew Viterbi (b. 1935)
Italian Jewish American electrical engineer Andrew Viterbi actually belongs on any checklist of well-known engineers. Everybody has a telephone, however not everybody is aware of his title. They need to, nevertheless, since his Viterbi Algorithm is answerable for propelling mobile expertise ahead by eliminating sign interference. He’s the co-developer of code-division a number of entry (CDMA), probably the most pervasive cellular phone expertise in the US.
Study extra: Andrew Viterbi at USC Viterbi Faculty of Engineering
24. Elijah McCoy (1843?–1929)
Elijah McCoy’s mother and father fled from Kentucky to Canada by way of the Underground Railroad previous to his beginning. He was an inventor who was so extremely considered that the expression “the real McCoy” originated with folks requesting his improvements. He was finest identified for innovations that had been centered round machine lubrication—for instance, he automated the method for lubricating the shifting components of trains so it not needed to be accomplished by hand. His patented course of was then utilized in different industries too.
Study extra: Elijah McCoy at Britannica
25. Lynn Conway (b. 1938)
American Lynn Conway is a pc scientist, electrical engineer, and transgender activist who acquired her superior diploma from Columbia College in 1963. Within the Sixties, she labored at IBM, the place she invented generalized dynamic instruction dealing with. This development improved efficiency for contemporary laptop processors. She was additionally answerable for a microchip design that might revolutionize the digital design automation trade and result in many influential high-tech start-ups within the Eighties and Nineteen Nineties.
Study extra: Lynn Conway at College of Michigan
26. Burt Rutan (b. 1943)
American Burt Rutan is an aerospace engineer and entrepreneur. He was answerable for designing the Voyager, which, in 1986, was the primary airplane to fly across the globe with out stopping or refueling. Rutan designed almost 50 plane throughout the course of his profession and was named considered one of Time’s 100 Most Influential Folks within the World amongst different recognition.
Study extra: Burt Rutan at BurtRutan.com
27. Jeanette Epps (b. 1970)
American astronaut Jeanette Epps acquired her PhD in aerospace engineering from the College of Maryland. She graduated as a part of the twentieth class of NASA astronauts, graduating in 2011. Epps, who at the moment serves as a member of ISS Operations, is scheduled to fly to the ISS in 2024 with the House X crew.
Study extra: Jeannette Epps at NASA.gov
28. Rem Koolhaas (b. 1944)
Dutch architect Remment Koolhaas has made Time’s checklist of the World’s Most Influential Folks and has additionally been inducted into the American Philosophical Society. He’s thought of by many to be one of the crucial vital architectural minds and urbanists of his time. He at the moment serves as a professor within the Graduate Faculty of Design at Harvard.
Study extra: Rem Koolhaas at Britannica
29. Carver Mead (b. 1934)
American scientist and engineer Carver Mead has taught engineering and utilized science on the California Institute of Know-how for over 4 a long time. Whereas he has based greater than 20 firms, he’s finest identified for his pioneering work within the discipline of contemporary microelectronics.
Study extra: Carver Mead at California Institute of Know-how
30. Marissa Mayer (b. 1975)
Billionaire Marissa Mayer is undoubtedly finest identified for her time spent at Google and Yahoo. Throughout her time at Google, she taught laptop programming at Stanford and mentored college students at a neighborhood constitution college. For her instructing, she was awarded the Centennial Educating Award and the Forsythe Award. She served as president and CEO of Yahoo from 2012 by 2017. Mayer herself graduated from Stanford with a B.S. in symbolic methods and an M.S. in laptop science, specializing in synthetic intelligence.
Study extra: Marissa Mayer at Britannica
31. Evelyn Wang (b. 1978)
Mechanical engineer Evelyn Wang was appointed by President Joe Biden to function the Director of the Division of Vitality’s (DOE) Superior Analysis Tasks Company-Vitality (ARPA-E). Her position oversees the company’s purpose of funding and supporting promising vitality analysis. An MIT graduate and now professor, Wang’s pursuits embody, however are usually not restricted to, thermal administration, vitality conservation, and water harvesting.
Study extra: Evelyn Wang at Massachusetts Institute of Know-how
32. Nikolaus Otto (1832–1891)
German engineer Nikolaus Otto invented the compressed-charge inside combustion engine, which ran on petroleum gasoline. This discovery would ultimately result in the event of the fashionable inside combustion engine.
Study extra: Nikolaus Otto at Britannica
33. Thomas Telford (1757–1834)
Thomas Telford was a Scottish civil engineer who was finest identified for his work on canals, roads, and bridges. Though he was answerable for many issues, together with 1,200 miles of latest and improved roads, he was maybe finest identified for the design and development of the Menai Bridge in Wales, the biggest suspension bridge on the planet on the time it was constructed.
Study extra: Thomas Telford at Britannica
34. James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879)
Whereas many know the names of Sir Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein, James Clerk Maxwell, a Scottish physicist, is taken into account to have been simply as influential on the planet physics. He’s significantly well-known for his formulation of electromagnetic principle. His discipline equations led on to the idea of electromagnetic radiation. It was this idea, together with the work of Michael Faraday (one other title on our checklist), that might ultimately pave the way in which for Einstein’s principle of relativity.
Study extra: James Clerk Maxwell at James Clerk Maxwell Basis
35. Invoice Gates (b. 1955)
Invoice Gates is actually one of the crucial recognizable names on our checklist. Gates, a pc programmer and entrepreneur, developed software program for the primary microcomputers whereas only a sophomore at Harvard College. He would then go on to develop into a co-founder of Microsoft Company, which might develop into the world’s largest private laptop software program firm. He additionally co-founded the Invoice & Melinda Gates Basis, a nonprofit that fights poverty, illness, and inequity all over the world.
Study extra: Invoice Gates at Britannica
36. Seymour Cray (1925–1996)
American electrical engineer Seymour Roger Cray is mostly thought of to be the daddy of supercomputing. He’s identified for designing a sequence of computer systems that had been at one time the quickest within the phrase. He’s additionally identified for founding Cray Analysis, the place many of those supercomputers had been constructed.
Study extra: Seymour Cray at Britannica
37. John Bardeen (1908–1991)
No checklist of well-known engineers could be full with out American physicist and electrical engineer John Bardeen since he’s the only particular person to win the Nobel Prize in Physics twice. The primary of the 2 was for his invention of the transistor, and the second was for his principle of typical superconductivity.
Study extra: John Bardeen at The Nobel Prize
38. Michael Faraday (1791–1867)
Anybody generally known as the daddy of electrical energy actually belongs on a listing of well-known engineers. English scientist Michael Faraday contributed considerably to the research of each electromagnetism and electrochemistry, and it was his work that might ultimately enable electrical energy to develop into sensible to be used in expertise.
Study extra: Michael Faraday at Science Historical past Institute
39. James Watt (1736–1819)
Scottish instrument maker and inventor James Watt developed the steam engine. This invention contributed considerably to the Industrial Revolution and its results had been far reaching. Moreover, he developed an early steam locomotive and patented a double-acting vitality. For those who’re questioning why his title is acquainted, it’s most likely due to the unit of measurement that was named after him.
Study extra: James Watt at Britannica
40. Alice H. Parker (1895–1920?)
Inventor Alice H. Parker patented a system of central heating that utilized pure gasoline as an alternative of coal or wooden. This concept allowed for the conservation of vitality and was immediately answerable for the central-style heating methods present in most properties at the moment.
Study extra: Alice H. Parker at Black Previous
41. Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806–1859)
As one of the crucial prolific and well-known engineers of his time, Isambard Kingdom Brunel is actually a lock on our checklist. Brunel was an English civil and mechanical engineer who oversaw the design and development of a whole lot of bridges, over two dozen railway traces, three main ships, and far more.
Study extra: Isambard Kingdom Brunel at American Society of Civil Engineers
42. Sergey Brin (b. 1973)
Everybody is aware of Google, however not everybody is aware of the title Sergey Brin. Brin is an American businessman who dropped out of his PhD program in laptop science at Stanford College to develop into a co-founder of Google with Larry Web page. As of the writing of this checklist of well-known engineers, Brin is the Tenth-richest particular person on the planet.
Study extra: Sergey Brin at Britannica
43. Carlos Slim (b. 1940)
No matter whether or not you take into account Carlos Slim extra of a businessman or an engineer, there isn’t a denying that it was his engineering background that helped him amass his wealth. He has credited a few of his success within the enterprise world to his mathematical fortitude and background in linear programming. In 2010, he took the title of world’s richest man from Invoice Gates, though he at the moment sits at eleventh wealthiest.
Study extra: Carlos Slim at Academy of Achievement
44. Stephanie Kwolek (1923–2014)
Stephanie Kwolek attended the ladies’s faculty at Carnegie Mellon College earlier than making use of for a job as a chemist with the DuPont Firm. She would ultimately go on to create a sequence of artificial fibers that had been exceptionally robust and stiff. A kind of materials, Kevlar, is utilized in over 200 purposes, together with bulletproof vests.
Study extra: Stephanie Kwolek at Science Historical past Institute
45. Christina Koch (b. 1979)
Christina Hammock Koch is the youngest of all of the well-known engineers on our checklist. She has been an astronaut since 2013 however started her profession with NASA as {an electrical} engineer on the Goddard House Flight Middle. She then spent a 12 months on the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. Koch additionally contributed to instrument growth for a number of NASA missions. She is probably finest identified for setting a document for the longest single area flight by a lady after finishing 328 days in area.
Study extra: Christina Koch at NASA.gov
46. Neil Armstrong (1930–2012)
Neil Armstrong is undoubtedly one of the crucial recognizable names in American historical past. He was an aeronautical engineer and analysis scientist who then went on to develop into a pilot and ultimately an astronaut in 1962. His biggest feat, and the one he’s finest remembered for, is being the primary particular person to stroll on the moon, in 1969.
Study extra: Neil Armstrong at NASA.gov
47. Tommy Flowers (1905–1998)
Tommy Flowers earned a level in mechanical engineering from the College of London. He then went on to hitch a telecommunications department of the Normal Put up Workplace. He would ultimately design the world’s first programmable digital laptop, which might come to be generally known as “Colossus.” This invention would show essential to the efforts to decode German messages throughout World Struggle II.
Study extra: Tommy Flowers at The Centre for Computing Historical past
48. Hemiunu (fl. 2570 BCE)
Egyptian Hemiunu lived throughout the reign of Pharaoh Khufu and was descended from royalty. His father was Prince Neferma’at and his mom was Princess Atet. Hemiunu was probably answerable for the constructing of the Nice Pyramid, thus incomes him a spot on our checklist of well-known engineers.
Study extra: Hemiunu at Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum
49. Ann Dowling (b. 1952)
Ann Dowling was the primary lady professor of mechanical engineering on the College of Cambridge. She is an skilled in combustion and acoustics and her analysis has centered on environment friendly, low-emission combustion for aero and industrial gasoline generators and plane. She has gained quite a few awards together with the James Watt Worldwide Gold Medal.
Study extra: Ann Dowling at Royal Academy of Engineering
50. Frances Arnold (b. 1956)
Frances Arnold earned a level in mechanical and aerospace engineering in 1979. She then went to work for the Photo voltaic Vitality Analysis Group within the hopes of discovering alternate options to fossil fuels and nuclear energy. In 2018, she gained the Nobel Prize for chemistry for her work on directed evolution of enzymes. Her discoveries have led to purposes of latest enzymes for all the things from prescribed drugs to renewable fuels.
Study extra: Frances Arnold at The Nobel Prize