SECTION G.— ENGINEERING. 



THE ENGINEER AND THE NATION 



ADDRESS BY 



PROF. WILLIAM CRAMP, D.Sc, M.I.E.E., 



PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION. 



The object of the British Association is to make known, as widely as 

 possible, not only the aims and achievements of every science, but also 

 the bearing of each advance upon world conditions. The very fact that 

 engineering was the seventh section to be formed shows that there never 

 was any intention to restrict the activities of the Association to ' pure ' 

 as distinct from ' applied ' science. Our President was strictly in order 

 when he suggested, last January, that Sectional Presidents should not 

 hesitate to deal with current difficulties and misconceptions in their 

 particular fields of work, and with the reactions of that work upon the 

 community. These are matters that concern the engineer very closely, 

 since his activity is linked with the national life and often consists in the 

 application of knowledge previously secured by the physicist, chemist, 

 and metallurgist. He himself is not thereby debarred from fundamental 

 researches. On the contrary, he is frequently led to investigate in detail 

 problems half solved by the physicist, or to discover phenomena which 

 the chemist has missed. No better example could be quoted than the 

 arc-rectifier, which from its humble beginning in the investigations of 

 Cooper-Hewitt to its present position as the most important converter 

 in heavy electrical engineering, is entirely the work of engineers. 



Pure Science and Engineering. 



But though engineering has for so many years been regarded as a branch 

 of science by the British Association, there are great and fundamental 

 differences between those engaged in pure science and the engineers. 

 The former may, if they so choose, indulge in a life of ardent detached 

 curiosity, devoting themselves to the observation of behaviour and to the 

 construction of a framework of principles neatly fitting the collected 

 observations. To such men, the known is just a key to the unknown, 

 and the unknown is the one thing worth knowing. This is called the 

 pursuit of truth as distinct from the pursuit of learning. Around each 

 hypothesis, prediction becomes possible ; but should new results be 

 incompatible with previous theory, the worker does not hesitate to alter 

 his construction to accommodate the fresh knowledge. Such a life 

 brings great happiness, since it entails self-forgetfulness, the satisfaction 



