Publications [#268051] of Henry Petroski

Papers Published

1. Petroski, H, Aspirants, apprentices, and student engineers, American Scientist, vol. 102 no. 5 (January, 2014), pp. 334-337, Sigma Xi, ISSN 0003-0996 [doi]
   (last updated on 2023/06/01)

   Abstract:
   The problem of having enough professional and skilled workers to satisfy the needs of society and industry is not a new one. Engineering was never organized the way that the craft guilds were. Would-be civil engineers did not so much serve formal apprenticeships as work their way up the ladder of responsibility on construction sites. The senior engineer was impressed with the youngster's talent and took him on as a paid assistant workman. At first, contestants were responsible for doing everything on their own. Either way, a serious contest entry might require three hours of after school work each day for an entire year. The discipline of industrial design was still young, but the automobile industry appreciated its importance. Fisher's size and scale grew to enormous proportions. The highest national grand size awards were college scholarships valued at $5000.