Technology and Engineering Atlas
Claims this atlas currently marks as unsettled or as tested and found false. A debated fact is one scholars hold competing positions on; a debunked one has been checked against the record and found not to hold. Both are kept in view rather than quietly smoothed over, with the reasoning that put each one where it stands.
78 statements marked Debated.
Aerospace Engineering, Origin Year1958
Aerospace Engineering, Fields
Standing
Concerns Origin Year
Currently States 1958
Aeronautical engineering, a narrower predecessor concerned only with atmospheric flight, dates to the early 1900s; aerospace engineering, unifying atmospheric and space flight, dates to the late 1950s, alongside the founding of NASA in 1958.
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica editors
Aluminum, Origin Year1825
Aluminum, Materials
Standing
Concerns Origin Year
Currently States 1825
Hans Christian Orsted produced impure aluminum metal in 1825; Friedrich Wohler produced a purer sample in 1827, and priority for the first true isolation is disputed between the two.
Source A History of Technology, Charles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors
Annealing, Origin Year-3000
Annealing, Methods
Standing
Concerns Origin Year
Currently States -3000
Ancient metalworkers were annealing copper by around the third millennium BCE to counteract the brittleness cold hammering introduced; a single point of origin is not established.
Source A History of Technology, Charles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors
Archimedes, Birth Year-287
Archimedes, Engineers
Standing
Concerns Birth Year
Currently States -287
Archimedes birth year is traditionally given as 287 BCE, derived from a note by the Byzantine historian John Tzetzes stating he lived seventy five years and died in 212 BCE. No contemporary record fixes the date directly, so the figure is a widely used scholarly estimate rather than a documented fact.
Source A History of Technology, Charles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors
Bi Sheng, Birth Year972
Bi Sheng, Engineers
Standing
Concerns Birth Year
Currently States 972
Wikipedia's infobox gives a 972-1051 span, but the precise birth year is not independently attested beyond that inference; only his death year (1051) and the 1039-1048 window for his invention are directly recorded.
Source Bi Sheng (Wikipedia), Wikipedia contributors
Biomedical Engineering, Origin Year1968
Biomedical Engineering, Fields
Standing
Concerns Origin Year
Currently States 1968
Dated here to the founding of the Biomedical Engineering Society in 1968, a commonly cited marker; the collaboration between engineers and physicians that produced the field's early devices, such as the cardiac pacemaker in the 1950s, predates any one founding date by more than a decade.
Borosilicate Glass, Origin Year1893
Brass, Origin Year-500
Brass, Materials
Standing
Concerns Origin Year
Currently States -500
Calamine brass, made by cementing copper with zinc ore, is attested in the Aegean and the Near East from around the mid-first millennium BCE; Roman brass, orichalcum, was in widespread use by around the first century BCE.
Source A History of Technology, Charles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors
Bronze, Origin Year-3300
Bronze, Materials
Standing
Concerns Origin Year
Currently States -3300
The earliest tin bronze artifacts are attested in the Near East, around Susa in present-day Iran, from roughly the late fourth millennium BCE.
Source A History of Technology, Charles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors
Canal Irrigation, Origin Year-6000
Canal Irrigation, Methods
Standing
Concerns Origin Year
Currently States -6000
Irrigation canals were developed independently by multiple ancient civilizations rather than invented once; Mesopotamian and Egyptian systems are attested from roughly the sixth millennium BCE, with comparable independent developments in the Indus Valley and in China.
Source A History of Technology, Charles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors
Canal Lock Engineering, Origin Year984
Canal Lock Engineering, Methods
Standing
Concerns Origin Year
Currently States 984
The earliest attested pound lock was built on the Grand Canal in China around 984 CE; European pound locks developed independently, with the Netherlands Vreeswijk lock dated to 1373.
Source A History of Technology, Charles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors
Carbon Fiber, Origin Year1958
Carbon Fiber, Materials
Standing
Concerns Origin Year
Currently States 1958
Roger Bacon produced early high-modulus carbon fibers at Union Carbide around 1958; the commercially significant PAN-based process was developed by Akio Shindo in Japan in 1961.
Source A History of Technology, Charles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors
Cast Iron, Origin Year-500
Cast Iron, Materials
Standing
Concerns Origin Year
Currently States -500
Cast iron is attested in China from around the fifth century BCE, using blast furnace technology developed there; cast iron production reached Europe independently, much later, from around the fourteenth century CE.
Source A History of Technology, Charles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors
Casting, Origin Year-3700
Casting, Methods
Standing
Concerns Origin Year
Currently States -3700
Lost-wax casting is attested in Mesopotamia and the Balkans from roughly the fourth millennium BCE, among the earliest known metal-casting techniques.
Source A History of Technology, Charles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors
Cement, Origin Year1824
Cement, Materials
Standing
Concerns Origin Year
Currently States 1824
Joseph Aspdin patented modern Portland cement in 1824; hydraulic cements go back much further, including Roman pozzolanic cement from around the second century BCE and John Smeaton hydraulic lime of 1756.
Source A History of Technology, Charles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors
Ceramics, Origin Year-25000
Ceramics, Materials
Standing
Concerns Origin Year
Currently States -25000
The earliest known fired ceramic object, the Venus of Dolni Vestonice figurine, dates to roughly 25,000 to 29,000 BCE; the earliest ceramic pottery vessels, used for cooking and storage rather than as figurines, are attested later, from around 18,000 BCE in China.
Source A History of Technology, Charles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors
Chemical Engineering, Origin Year1888
Chemical Engineering, Fields
Standing
Concerns Origin Year
Currently States 1888
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology introduced the first dedicated course of study in chemical engineering in 1888; the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the discipline first professional body, followed in 1908.
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica editors
Civil Engineering, Origin Year1768
Civil Engineering, Fields
Standing
Concerns Origin Year
Currently States 1768
John 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.
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica editors
Computer Engineering, Origin Year1971
Computer Engineering, Fields
Standing
Concerns Origin Year
Currently States 1971
Case Western Reserve University is widely credited with establishing the first computer engineering degree program in the United States in 1971.
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica editors
Concrete, Origin Year-300
Concrete, Materials
Standing
Concerns Origin Year
Currently States -300
Roman concrete, opus caementicium, was in wide structural use from around the third century BCE; still older Nabataean hydraulic-cement-like materials are attested from roughly 6500 BCE, and the modern Portland cement that underlies most concrete poured today dates only to 1824.
Source A History of Technology, Charles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors