Engineering and Pure Science 1 



By W. F. G. Swann 



Director, Bartol Research Foundation 

 Franklin Institute, Swarthmore, Pa. 



I have often wondered why the cathedrals of medieval times didn't 

 fall down. If I enter one of these edifices I feel disturbed by a number 

 of conflicting emotions. I say to myself : "Now, Swann, you are not 

 an architect, and you do not know anything about building churches. 

 However, you do know a little bit about the theory of elasticity and 

 how to calculate the stresses in various structures ; you know a little 

 bit about the things which are fundamental in providing that the 

 cathedral shall not fall down, and yet, the fellow who designed that 

 dome did not have any knowledge at all of these matters." I start 

 with the feeling that I ought to be able to design a much better dome 

 than he has, and yet, if somebody sentenced me to this task, and even 

 if I should, in my own humble way, muddle through the calculation 

 necessary in my opinion to insure safety, I should never have the 

 courage to erect the dome until I had talked with some practical engi- 

 neer and asked him whether he thought that my dome really would 

 stand up in practice, or tumble down, to my great disappointment and 

 humiliation. 



Now, why didn't the dome built by that ignorant medieval archi- 

 tect — who knew nothing about the equations of elasticity, who had no 

 differential or integral calculus, who had no knowledge of mechanics 

 and of all the things which it would seem he should have known — why 

 should his dome stand up, whereas mine would probably fall down? 

 I feel very humiliated about the matter. 



EXPERIENCE VERSUS SCIENCE 



In the development of modern technical industry, two partners 

 are called upon to cooperate — practical experience and what is called 

 scientific research. Experience is the product of 6,000 years of civil- 

 ization. Science is the product of 300 years, and in its relation to 

 industry as a working partner, it is a product of less than 50 years. 



. a Reprinted by permission from Physics Today, vol. 4, No. 6, June 1952. 



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