Scientists & Engineers

A scientist conducts experiments and measurements to find out how things work. An engineer calculates physical phenomena, builds stuff, and makes accurate predictions.

You have probably heard the phrase “scientists and engineers.” It’s usual to lump them together. I distinguish engineers from scientists, because scientists are usually looking for answers to unknown phenomena; whereas, engineers work from knowledge and calculations.

A scientist may be trying to figure out the relationship between temperature and viscosity of a new substance. An engineer works with situations where the relationships are already known. A scientist wonders what will happen if you add one chemical to another. An engineer can calculate how many trucks a bridge can hold without collapsing, or how many appliances you can plug in before the circuit breaker shuts off.  An engineer uses measurements to build and predict.

Engineers sometimes become scientists, and vice versa. Both use a lot of math and physics. All engineering and science is basically physics – the study of our physical world.