Engineering myths

Abstract

Perceptions of Great Engineers: fact and fantasy . Edited by Denis Smith. Science Museum, 1994. Pp. 115, paperback, illus., Price £9.95 ISBN 0 901805 65 3 This book publishes the proceedings of a one-day conference held at Merseyside Maritime Museum, Liverpool on 26 June 1993. It comprises an introduction by Denis Smith, and eight papers by distinguished scholars on aspects of the biography of engineers. This is an important collection, and should be required reading by everyone interested in engineering history. It is nicely produced, though plate 8, illustrating a lathe copying device, has been printed upside down. In his introduction Denis Smith states that the aim of the conference was to examine two historiographical problems, namely the selection of engineers for immortalization, and the growth of a widespread folk tradition within engineering biography. Michael Duffy goes furthest in examining the selection of engineers for immortalization with a paper which shows how the history of engineering has been moulded by ill- formed prejudices against it in Victorian times.