Definitions of Engineering

Wikipedia defines engineering thus:

Engineering is the discipline and profession of applying technical, scientific and mathematical knowledge in order to utilize natural laws and physical resources to help design and implement materials, structures, machines, devices, systems, and processes that safely realize a desired objective.

And the American Engineers' Council for Professional Development (ECPD uses these words:

The creative application of scientific principles to design or develop structures, machines, apparatus, or manufacturing processes, or works utilizing them singly or in combination; or to construct or operate the same with full cognizance of their design; or to forecast their behavior under specific operating conditions; all as respects an intended function, economics of operation and safety to life and property.

Encyclopedia Britannica puts it like this:

The application of science to the optimum conversion of the resources of nature to the uses of humankind. The field has been defined by the Engineers Council for Professional Development, in the United States, as the creative application of “scientific principles to design or develop structures, machines, apparatus, or manufacturing processes, or works utilizing them singly or in combination; or to construct or operate the same with full cognizance of their design; or to forecast their behaviour under specific operating conditions; all as respects an intended function, economics of operation and safety to life and property.

The term engineering is sometimes more loosely defined, especially in Great Britain, as the manufacture or assembly of engines, machine tools, and machine parts.

In English-speaking countries, if your work is engineering you may rightfully be termed an engineer - it's how I justify having called myself one. But that is not how they see it in Continental Europe and elsewhere; Technical High School or university qualifications are required for a person to be permitted to use the title.

Formal qualifications for engineers deliver professional designations such as European Engineer, Professional Engineer, Chartered Engineer, or Incorporated Engineer. Then there are the impressive European appellations Dipl.-Ing. (Diplom-Ingenieur/in), which can be abbreviated to Dr.-Ing. or DI, Doktor der Ingenieurwissenschaften, Diplom-Ingenieur / Diplom-Ingenieurin, Ingeniero, Maestria Licenciado/Ingeniero, Ingenieurwissenschaften ingenieur, in Poland inżynier corresponds to Bachelor in Ingenieurwissenschaften (Engineering Science), inženyr (Ing.) in the Czech Republic corresponds to Diplomingenieur in Germany.

My son Charlie has this title on his business cards - Diplom Ingenieur / Master of Engineering.

In simpler times, during the "Age of the Engineer" 1820-1880:

"The engineers liberated labour from the fields"

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