Scientific Success, Engineering Failure

While we were discussing “Packing for Mars” by Mary Roach, our discussion leader brought up the observation that every time a shuttle would successfully launch the commentators would talk about how it was a great “success for science.” Conversely, he continued, every time there was some kind of failure – perhaps the tiles on the shuttle not holding up – the commentators would talk about how it was an “engineering failure.” Well, especially to an engineer, this seems rather unfair. Not that we necessarily want scientists to have failures as well, but can’t we ever talk about an engineering success?

           

Yes, I understand that it probably was the engineers’ fault that the tiles were poorly designed. After all, a scientist was unlikely in charge of such an applicable operation. But, when the tiles were perfect, shouldn’t the engineer have received some credit?

When I walk into my room and flip the light switch, I rarely think “wow, those lights work perfectly. Some engineer did a great job.” Or, when the road is clear I don’t think “What a great design – the pavement is so smooth and there aren’t any potholes.” Thing is, these are expected. I only really pay much attention to the functioning of the lights when they aren’t. When engineers are given a task they can either do what is expected or fail. And “meeting expectations” (C work for most classes) is rarely something people celebrate. Of course, sometimes an engineer can go above and beyond and do something extraordinary but such a case is not as common.

To make matters worse in the case of the space shuttle, the tiles were such a small part of an huge system. They weren’t meant to be flashy. They weren’t meant to catch people’s attention and make people think “oh my, look at those amazing tiles! How innovative!” Rather, they were meant to get a job done. And so, the engineering work for the most part went unnoticed and the accomplishment was attributed to science because the engineering made the advancement of science possible.

All the same, when people watch clips of a space shuttle launching, they probably aren’t thinking about that study on moon dust. It’s much more likely that they are awed at the power and engineering prowess on display. Of course, they probably aren’t attributing this to years of work on every aspect of the design.

Although engineering work is for a large part behind the scenes, every once in a while, it is nice to stop and appreciate those lights, that paved road, and those tiles on the space shuttle.