History of Engineering

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, progressions, and Neolithic milestones from the History of Engineering lecture.

Engineering

A profession involving the skillful use of processing materials into a greater value, used for common households to inspiring megastructures, using the language of mathematics and science.

Ingenium

An early Roman Latin expression meaning a person possessing an innovative mind and skillful hands in the making of such devices.

Ingenietore

A historical term used to refer to Engineers.

Homogeneous Progressions

A type of engineering progression in a time dependent variable associated with a device.

Heterogeneous Progressions

A type of progression in which an object takes a different yet more useful state, such as transportation evolving from chariot to wagon to trains to automobile to airplanes.

Primal Progression

A progression defined by the turning of one material into another valuable material.

Engineering Connectivity Progression

An expanded formulation of primal progression that incorporates processes like feedback, feed-forward, recursion, and branching, taking the form of a directed graph.

Neolithic Era

An era dated $7000 - 1700\text{ BCE}$ marked by further development of engineering concepts including stone tools, fire control, and shelters.

Protection (Fire Benefit)

The benefit of using fire to fend off predator attacks using campfires and burning sticks, as all animals fiercely seek to avoid fire.

Nutrition (Fire Benefit)

The benefit of heating foods that are difficult to digest raw, which renders them edible and destroys parasites and bacteria.

Range (Fire Benefit)

The benefit of fire transport that enabled Stone Age people to migrate from tropical Africa to colder climates in northern Europe and Asia.

Community (Fire Benefit)

The social role of evening campfires in providing an environment for storytelling and hunting re-enactments, contributing to human expression and mythical tales.

Burial Customs (Neolithic Era)

The practice of aligning human skeletons in a sunrise/sunset direction within graves, implying specific beliefs associated with natural phenomena.

Bear Skull Trophies

Evidence from stone pits containing mostly bear skulls, suggesting the first practice of collecting trophies associated with successful hunts.

Stampeding

The prehistoric practice of driving animals for food supplies, identified by piles of ibex bones found at the base of cliffs and bottoms of wide crevices.

Neolithic Shelters

Early structures created by humans in the form of huts, which were mostly made of clay.