Engineering Research in Kansas

Abstract

My interest in research started in 1924 when I took a job with the Bureau of Public Roads with the title of Research Engineer and spent two years on the project to determine the atmospheric resistance of motordriven vehicles. This project could hardly be classed as basic research or as applied engineering research. It was hoped we could answer part of the question as to what uses up the power coming from an automobile power plant. Indirectly, the study of the data we acquired has had its effect on the design of automobile bodies, so that the amount of power absorbed by pushing an automobile through the air is far less today than it was in the early 1920's. Research that can be classed as purely scientific and research that has a definite end in view for the production of a useful end-product are often difficult to classify because so many projects cross the lines and include both. I thought it might be interesting to this group to cite a pair of definitions which have been proposed by a committee of the National Society of Professional Engineers. In their study of related problems, the following are suggested: 1. Engineers are primarily creators of things and services useful to man.