Future Now
The IFTF Blog
Engineering a better physicist
The physicsWeb have an interesting article about the distance between the fields of engineering and physics and comments on what the outcome of closer ties would yield.
Physicists have always seen themselves as being one (maybe two) steps removed from the mundane job of translating their work into practical benefits for the good of everybody, including themselves. That is the job of engineers, who are often viewed as technicians to be called upon when needed and shooed away when not.
Surprisingly, though, some of the most beautiful results in physics have been obtained by engineers. Simon van der Meer, for example, shared the 1984 Nobel Prize for Physics with Carlo Rubbia for the discovery of the W± and Z0 particles at CERN thanks to his invention of "stochastic cooling", which reduces the energy spread of a bunch of particles travelling in an accelerator ring. However, van der Meer does not see himself as a great scientist - just an engineer who likes to get on with inventing and building nice machines.