HISTORY OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

HISTORY OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

Civil engineering at its roots in the application of physical and scientific principles for solving the problems of society, and its history is intricately linked to not only the advances in the understanding of physics and mathematics throughout history, but also the knowledge of structures, materials science, geography, geology, soils, hydrology, environment, mechanics, etc.

Thus, it could be inferred that civil engineering has been an aspect of life since the beginnings. The civilizations of Mesopotamia, Indus Valley, and ancient Egypt showed the earliest practice of civil engineering between 4000 and 2000 BC. This was mainly due to the fact that the people stopped their nomadic way of life and needed shelters. Also, the wheel was invented as a need for transportation arose. Later this led to the construction of roads.

The Romans developed civil structures throughout their empire, including especially aqueducts, insulae, harbors, bridges, dams, and roads. The construction of pyramids in Egypt (circa 2700–2500 BC) were some of the first instances of large structure constructions. Other ancient historic constructions include the Qanat water management system (the oldest is older than 3000 years and longer than 71 km,[8]) the Parthenon by Iktinos in Ancient Greece (447–438 BC), the Appian Way by Roman engineers (c. 312 BC), the Great Wall of China (c. 220 BC) and the stupas in Sri Lanka like the Jetavanaramaya and the extensive irrigation works in Anuradhapura.

 Recently until the 18th-century architecture and civil engineering were considered to be one and the same thing, often interchanged while usage. The footings of civil engineering as a separate discipline may be seen in 1747 when the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées (“National School of Bridges and Highways”) was established by the Bridge and Highway Corps. British engineers learned French to read the books on mechanics and hydraulics written by the professors. John Smeaton, the father of civil engineering, was the first amongst all to call himself a civil engineer. In 1771, the Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers was formed with Smeaton and a few of his colleagues.

These events resulted in many other countries also building their own colleges as the need for constructing a proper society arose. First school from Britain was the Institution of Civil Engineers was founded in London in 1818; from the USA Norwich University was the first private college to teach civil and in India, IIT Roorkee established in 1847 for the training of budding civil engineers. 

The knowledge of the way of construction of infrastructure of the society has since passed on through many years. Research done throughout time has contributed to refining the field of civil engineering. Now it is up to the current generation to make history with the tools and knowledge available.

-By Pratyusha Naik