Famous, and perhaps not so famous, Engineers

Bharat Ratna Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya (1860-1965) was called a wizard in engineering. He was also called the precursor of economic planning in India. He took an interest not in engineering alone, but was capable of applying his talent to many allied matters connected with the development of the nation.

His learned discourse on economic planning in India entitled 'Planned Economy for India and Reconstructing India' was the first available document on the planning effort of the country and it is still held as the parent source matter for economic planners.

To commemorate the birthday of Bharat Ratna Sir M Visvesvaraya, the Council of the Institution decided to observe September 15 as the Engineers' Day every year.

Here are some list of a great engineer that made a huge impact to our civilazation.



Jack Kilby - inventor of the integrated circuit and handheld calculator, Nobel, Draper, and Kyoto Prize winner, electrical engineer

Jack Welsh - former Chairman & CEO, General Electric Company, chemical engineer
Herbert Hoover - 31st President of the United States, humanitarian, founder of the Hoover Institute, mining engineer
Nathanael Herreshoff - legendary America's Cup yacht designer, mechanical engineer/naval architect
William Gramley, MD - chemical engineering degree, gastroenterologist
Erik Rotheim - invented the aerosol spray can, chemical engineer
Maurizio Seracini - art imaging and diagnostics specialist, electrical and bioengineer
Leo Beranek - co-founder of Bolt, Beranek, and Newman, acoustics engineer
Bill Nye, PE - worked for Boeing before he became the "science guy", mechanical engineer
Susan Story - CEO, Gulf Power, industrial engineer
David M. Crocker - retired Rear Admiral, former Commanding Officer of the USS Carl Vinson, aerospace engineer
Marcian Hoff - invented the microprocessor while at Intel, electrical engineer
John Bardeen - co-inventor of the transistor, electrical engineer and physicist, double Nobel Prize winner
Willis Carrier - invented first air conditioning system, mechanical engineer
Paul MacCready - human-powered flight pioneer, aeronautical engineer
Nick Holonyak, Jr. - invented the first light emitting diode (LED), electrical engineer
Seymour Cray - founder of Cray Research, supercomputer manufacturer, electrical engineer
Martin Cooper - inventor of the cell phone, electrical engineer
Marshall Brain - founder of How Stuff Works, electrical engineer
Santiago Calatrava - world famous architect and structural engineer, graduate degree in civil engineering
Harold Froehlich - designed the Alvin deep ocean submersible, aeronautical engineer
Mae Jamison, MD - first black, female astronaut, chemical engineer, medical doctor
General Michael Hagee - 33rd Commandant of the Marine Corps, electrical engineer
Stephen Wozniak - founded Apple and then later returned to finish school, electrical engineer
Karlheinz Brandenberg - co-developer of the MP3 compression scheme, electrical engineer
Luis Reyes - Executive Director of Operations, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, electrical, nuclear engineer
Dale Klein - Chairman, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, mechanical, nuclear engineer
Dr. Z - Chairman of the Board of Management, Daimler, doctorate in electrical engineering
Amar Bose - founder of the Bose Corp., former MIT electrical engineering professor, electrical engineer
Frank Capra - film director, degree in chemical engineering
Isambard Kingdom Brunel - the great British transportation engineer
Sir Barnes Wallis - invented the bouncing and deep-penetration earth quake bombs used in WWII, marine engineer
Kermin Fleming - 2004 Jeopardy college champion, electrical and computer engineering student
Montel Williams - TV show host, engineering graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy
Cameron Mathison - soap opera star, BS degree in civil engineering
Ray Dolby - founder of Dolby Laboratories, electrical engineer
Robert Moog - inventor of the Moog synthesizer, MS in electrical engineering
Alan Boeckmann - CEO of the Fluor Corporation, electrical engineer
Mark Dean - IBM Fellow, part of the original IBM PC development team, electrical engineer
Dave Bradley - wrote the BIOS for the original IBM PC, inventor of the control-alt-del key combo, electrical engineer
Douglas Engelbart - inventor of the mouse, electrical engineer
William Hewlett - co-founder of the Hewlett-Packard (HP) Company, electrical engineer
David Packard - co-founder of the Hewlett-Packard (HP) Company, electrical engineer
Albert Carnesale - Chancellor Emeritus, UCLA, former Provost, Harvard, nuclear engineer
Donald Liu - former VP of the American Bureau of Shipping, naval architect, marine and mechanical engineer
Bonnie Dunbar - astronuat, mechanical/biomedical engineer
Judith Resnik - Challenger astronuat, electrical engineer
Ilan Ramon - Israeli Columbia astronaut, electrical engineer
Rich Husband - Columbia astronaut, mechanical engineer
Kalpana Chawla - Columbia astronaut, first Indian in space, aerospace engineer
Burt Rutan - aircraft innovator, SpaceShipOne designer, aeronautical engineer
Katherine Stinson - first woman graduate of NCSU College of Engineering, aeronautical engineer
Neil Armstrong - astronaut, aeronautical engineer
John Glenn - astronaut, US Senator, USMC aviator, WWII & Korea veteran, BS degree in engineering
Clarence "Kelly" Johnson - founder of Lockheed's legendary "Skunk Works", SR-71 designer, aeronautical engineer
Ben Rich - 2nd Director of the Skunk Works; led development of the F-117 stealth bomber, mechanical engineer
Theodore von Karman - aerodynamics pioneer, aeronautical engineer, first Director of the Jet Propulsion Lab
Ashton Lewis - NASCAR driver, mechanical engineer
Ryan Newman - NASCAR driver, mechanical engineer
Sue Ginter - professional golfer, degree in mechanical engineer
James P. Gills, MD - eye surgeon, engineering graduate
Norbert Rillieux - inventor of the process of vacuum evaporation, chemical engineer
Kenneth Olsen - inventor of magnetic core memory, co-founder, Digital Equipment Corporation, electrical engineer
Nikola Tesla - inventor of the induction motor, electrical engineer
Elijah McCoy - inventor of the rotary machine lubricator, engineer
Bill Koch - 1992 America's Cup winner, chemical engineer
John Sununu (R) - senator from New Hampshire, mechanical engineering graduate, MIT
Joe Barton PE (R) - Congressman, Texas sixth district, industrial engineer
Cliff Stearns (R) - Congressman, Florida sixth district, electrical engineer
Andrew Card - former White House chief of staff, college degree in engineering
Andrew Grove - co-founder, Intel, chemical engineer
George Westinghouse - founder of Westinghouse, inventor, pioneer of AC power, engineer
Bill Joy - co-founder of Sun Microsystems, electrical engineer
Alexander Calder - scupltor, college degree in engineering
John Roebling - designed the Brooklyn Bridge, civil engineer
Washington Roebling - completed oversight of construction of Brooklyn Bridge, civil engineer
Hyman G. Rickover - led development of the navy nuclear submarine fleet, electrical engineer
John Simpson - US nuclear pioneer, electrical engineer
Stephen Timoshenko - arguably, the father of engineering mechanics, engineering scientist
Ludwig Prandtl - arguably, the father of fluid mechanics, mechanical engineer
William LeMessurier - structural designer of the Citicorp building, structural engineer
James Morgan - former CEO, Applied Materials, mechanical engineer
Joesph Strauss et al. - designers and builders of the Golden Gate Bridge

According to the September 16-17, 2006 edition of the Wall Street Journal's Weekend Edition, about 20% of the CEO's of the top US companies have engineering degrees - the most common degree - followed by business administration, liberal arts, economics, and accounting. Only about 10% have degrees from Ivy League schools.

No, Bill Gates is not an engineer, and Al Gore did not invent the Internet. But these guys did!

HAPPY ENGINEER MONTH