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Civil Engineering
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Civil engineering is the branch of engineering concerned with the design, construction and maintenance of the built and natural physical environment, including roads, bridges, canals, dams, buildings and water supply systems. Its name distinguishes it from military engineering, the discipline from which it split as a recognized civilian profession in eighteenth century Europe, when engineers began organizing themselves around public works rather than fortification.
Facts
Disputed
Origin YearJohn Smeaton styled himself the first self-described civil engineer in Britain around 1768, to distinguish civilian construction work from military engineering; the first dedicated professional body, the Institution of Civil Engineers, followed only in 1818. Core ConcernThe design and construction of the built and natural physical environment. 1 Core PrincipleDesign structures and infrastructure to carry their loads safely over a stated service life, accounting for the soil, climate and use conditions specific to the site rather than a generic standard load. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Environmental engineering grew out of nineteenth century civil and sanitary engineering practice.
Underground mine structural support and surface mine infrastructure both draw heavily on civil engineering practice.
Includes
Professor of civil engineering at the University of British Columbia from 1933 until his death.
A mathematician by training, not a civil engineer; associated here through his 1943 numerical-methods paper, the mathematical root of the Finite Element Method used throughout structural and civil engineering.
Sources
1. Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Civil Engineering (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationLead section, opening definition of civil engineeringQuote, Lead section, opening definition of civil engineering
Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewage systems, pipelines, structural components of buildings, and railways.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel: A Biography
L. T. C. Rolt, Longmans, Green and Co., 1957Includes: Isambard Kingdom Brunel
A History of Technology
Charles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors, Oxford University Press, 1954Includes: Concrete
A History of Technology
Charles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors, Oxford University Press, 1954Includes: Canal Lock Engineering
Joseph Aspdin Patent No. 5022, 1824 (cementkilns.co.uk)
Alexander Hrennikoff (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Alexander Hrennikoff, Biography section, first paragraphQuote, Includes: Alexander Hrennikoff, Biography section, first paragraph
From 1933 until his death in 1984 he worked as a professor of Civil Engineering at the University of British Columbia.
Richard Courant (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Richard Courant, Finite element method paragraphQuote, Includes: Richard Courant, Finite element method paragraph
Courant's name is also attached to the finite element method, with his numerical treatment of the plain torsion problem for multiply-connected domains, published in 1943.
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