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. The first dedicated institution for teaching the discipline, the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussees, opened in France in 1747, formalizing civil engineering training a generation before the profession fully separated from military engineering in practice.
Facts
Core ConcernThe design and construction of the built and natural physical environment. Practice is carried out from municipal public works departments through national government agencies, and from locally based private firms to the largest global engineering companies. 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 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. Connections
Associated With
Devised the framework method that became a forerunner of the finite element method used across structural engineering.
Arch Dam, Inventions Field-to-technology association verified live; FROM end owned by fields section
Environmental engineering grew out of nineteenth century civil and sanitary engineering practice.
Traditionally credited as the architect and engineer of the Step Pyramid of Djoser.
One of the most influential civil engineers of the nineteenth century, known for bridges, tunnels and railways.
Underground mine structural support and surface mine infrastructure both draw heavily on civil engineering practice.
Field-to-technology association verified live; FROM end owned by fields section
Coined the term finite element method and developed it for structural analysis.
Field-to-technology association verified live; FROM end owned by fields section
Developed the variational mathematics underlying the finite element method used in structural engineering.
Field-to-technology association verified live; FROM end owned by fields section
Truss Bridge, Inventions Field-to-technology association verified live; FROM end owned by fields section
Tunnel Boring, Methods Field-to-technology association verified live; FROM end owned by fields section
Includes
Professor of civil engineering at the University of British Columbia from 1933 until his death.
Source Alexander Hrennikoff (Wikipedia)
Source Encyclopaedia BritannicaEncyclopaedia Britannica editors
Source A History of TechnologyCharles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors
Source A History of TechnologyCharles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors
Source Encyclopaedia BritannicaEncyclopaedia Britannica editors
Source Encyclopaedia BritannicaEncyclopaedia Britannica editors
Source Encyclopaedia BritannicaEncyclopaedia Britannica editors
Source Encyclopaedia BritannicaEncyclopaedia Britannica editors
Source Isambard Kingdom Brunel: A BiographyL. T. C. Rolt
Source Joseph Aspdin Patent No. 5022, 1824 (cementkilns.co.uk)
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.
Source Richard Courant (Wikipedia)
Open Questions
Source Civil Engineering (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors
Sources
1. Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.View the Source Civil Engineering (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationLead 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.
Lead section, second-oldest discipline paragraph
It is considered the second-oldest engineering discipline after military engineering, and it is defined to distinguish non-military engineering from military engineering.
History section, institution-founding sentence
In 1747, the first institution for the teaching of civil engineering, the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, was established in France; and more examples followed in other European countries.
Lead section, practice-sector sentence
Civil engineering can take place in the public sector from municipal public works departments through to national government agencies, and in the private sector from locally based firms to Fortune Global 500 companies.
View the Source 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, 1954- Includes: Concrete
- Includes: Canal Lock Engineering
View the Source 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.
Open Questions (1 open question)
When did civil engineering begin as a distinct discipline: with John Smeaton's 1771 self-designation, or with millennia of unnamed pre-professional practice?
Wikipedia's own civil engineering article calls Smeaton "the first self-proclaimed civil engineer" (1771, Eddystone Lighthouse) while the same article calls the discipline "the second-oldest engineering discipline after military engineering," reaching back to Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Greek and Roman construction with no professional title attached. Historians differ on whether "civil engineering" names a practice (ancient) or a profession (18th century onward).
What would resolve this A settled historiographical convention on whether "engineering" disciplines are dated from their professional/institutional founding or from the earliest practice they describe; no such family-wide convention exists yet.
Wikipedia contributors, Civil Engineering (Wikipedia)
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is civil engineering called civil, and how old is it as a discipline?
Civil engineering is considered the second-oldest engineering discipline, after military engineering, and its name reflects exactly that distinction. It was defined to separate non-military engineering work (roads, bridges, canals, dams and buildings) from the military engineering that came before it.
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