The Assyrians are believed to have engaged in the first organized road building; in the sixth century B.C. they built the first bridge of technical significance over the Euphrates River.
Certainly the Egyptians, with their advanced methods of surveying and land measurement, employed engineering techniques. The building of the Great Pyramids is still considered one of the major engineering achievements of all time.
The ancient Greeks are credited with being the first society to go beyond the simple know how of construction to introducing theory into engineering problems during the sixth to third centuries B.C. They developed abstract theories of lines, angles, surfaces, and solids rather than referring to specific objects. The Romans, who borrowed heavily from the Greeks, elevated the art of road and aqueduct construction to a level unsurpassed until modern times.
However, in many of these early projects the work of the engineer blended into the work of the technician and the crafts person. For instance, master masons directed the construction of Notre Dame and the other great French cathedrals of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, even today considered the most daring stone structures ever built.
It was during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when strong nations such as England and France developed centralized governments that civil engineering emerged as a distinct profession. Some historians believe that the first man to refer to himself as a "civil engineer" was John Smeaton. Noted as the builder of the famous Eddystone Lighthouse near Plymouth, England, Smeaton wished to distinguish himself from military engineers. However, France led the way in the development of civil engineering. The Corps des Ponts et Chaussees was formed in 1716 for the scientific advancement of road and bridge buildings; the Ecole des Ponts et Chaussees offered the earliest known formal training program for civil engineering.
England established the first engineering society, the Institution of Civil Engineers, in 1818. Shortly thereafter, civil engineering and architecture became identified as separate professions. Architects distinguished themselves for the emphasis they placed on the aesthetic aspects of design, while civil engineers focused more on the rational and scientific principles of design.
When the United States was in its infancy, most engineering projects were overseen by the military. The Continental Congress authorized an engineering corps for Washington's army in 1775. After the Revolutionary War this emphasis on military engineering changed. In 1794 Congress authorized President Washington to recruit a body of engineers to design and construct fortifications around harbors on the Atlantic sea coast. This work led to the improvement of the harbors themselves, providing civilian as well as military benefits.
The nation's first engineering school was established in 1802 and called the United States Military Academy at West Point. (West Point remained a school solely devoted to training military engineers until 1866) In 1807, Congress recognized a need for a survey of the coastline of the United States and appropriated funds to employ a group of surveyors and engineers. In 1824, Congress approved funding for surveys for roads and canal routes considered important by the President for the young country's growth toward the west. These surveys were carried out by the newly created Army Corps of Engineers. The success of the Erie Canal, which was completed in 1825, inspired a brief flurry of canal building throughout the East (until railroads gained preeminence later in the century), creating a growing demand for civil engineers.
Many of these engineers received their training at Norwich University at Northfield, Vermont, established in 1819 as the first U.S. engineering school for civilians. The number of engineering schools grew rapidly after the Civil War, as the wartime economy retooled for peace and the nation turned its restless eyes to the West. Most land grant colleges and universities spawned by the Morrill (land grant) Act of 1862 established programs in engineering (then referred to as mechanical arts). Interestingly, some of these programs, such as those offered at West Point and Dartmouth, suffered declines in enrollments because other schools did not require courses in the liberal arts along with courses in engineering. It wasn't until 1944 that the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education (later renamed the American Society for Engineering Education) recommended that a "desirable objective in an acceptable engineering curriculum" should include at least 20 percent of social humanistic subject matter.
The American Society of Civil Engineers was founded in 1852 as the nation's first engineering technical society to fill the need by civil engineers for the exchange of "the benefits of their experience and studies." The ASCE struggled in its earliest years with a membership that rarely exceeded 200. Today the ASCE has about 120,000 members.
