Some significant South African contributions to engineering

• Published in: South African Journal of Science Vol. 118; no. 7; pp. 1 - 3
• Main Authors: Limebeer, David J.N., Dwolatzky, Barry
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Pretoria Academy of Science for South Africa (ASSAf) 01-07-2022; Academy of Science of South Africa
• Subjects: Acoustics; Applied mathematics; Biomedical engineering; Chemists; Civil engineering; Construction; Core curriculum; Design; Engineering education; Engineers; Learning; major engineering achievements; Mathematicians; Physics; R&D; Research & development; Structural engineering; Students; Teachers; Teaching; Wits centenary; X-rays; South Africa
• ISSN: 0038-2353; 1996-7489
• DOI: 10.17159/sajs.2022/13900

To mark the centenary of the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), we review several major engineering achievements made over the last century by South African citizens, or individuals educated in South Africa several of these contributions were made by Wits graduates and academic staff members. Equally significant are some outstanding contributions to engineering education. There is no sense in which this review is exhaustive but is more a reflection of the authors' personal interests and expertise. The University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) celebrates its centenary in 2022. As part of this celebration, we recall some of the contributions made by South Africans to the most significant engineering achievements of the last century. Space limitations have forced us to limit our selection to a handful of these many brilliant contributions many of which have an association with Wits. The selection we have made is inevitably coloured by our personal knowledge, our experience and interests, but also our ignorance. We offer no ordering or prioritisation as to whom we think might have contributed most. On topics such as this, one is unlikely to ever reach consensus. This leads us to another issue: what is engineering, and who should be categorised as an engineer? In recent times, a lot of research and development work is undertaken by large teams, with members drawn from a multiplicity of different disciplines. Examples are the ITER nuclear reactor and the Large Hadron Collider whose missions are to investigate, respectively, the viability of fusion power generation and the frontiers of particle physics. Are these physics projects? The answer is surely 'yes'. Are these projects undertaken predominantly by physicists? The answer is 'no'. Both projects involve mathematicians, chemists, computer scientists, and engineers of many varieties. To further muddy the waters, one might ask the question: what type of engineer is so and so? As engineering educators, we find a diversity of opinions on this subject too. At one end of the spectrum, one finds institutions that offer courses that are arguably over-specialised such as engineering acoustics. After completing such a course, we suppose that one becomes an acoustics engineer. Towards the other end of the spectrum, Cambridge and Oxford, for example, offer courses in engineering science which are broadly based and focus on the fundamentals of mathematics, physics and chemistry. One also finds courses such as global engineering design that could encapsulate almost anything. Our theory of the case is that categorising engineering into electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and so on has clear administrative benefits, but one should be wary of letting this categorisation produce siloed thinking. Engineering is a broad discipline with porous and poorly defined boundaries. In discussing the South African engineers that we believe have made outstanding contributions, the reader will notice that some start out as engineers of one variety and then metamorphose into what one could categorise as mathematicians, physicists, computer scientists, medical doctors and so on. These developmental changes can occur in the opposite direction too, when mathematicians, physicists and chemists become engineers. We believe that this adaptability of thinking is to be lauded, and for that reason we believe that a broad-based education that focuses on the fundamentals is the correct way to foster the engineers of the future. While it is surely right to recognise and celebrate our past achievements, it is arguably even more important to think about the things that are likely to facilitate the production of future generations of outstanding engineers. We have grouped our selected outstanding engineering contributors into seven topic areas. In each case we provide an introductory overview, with person-specific contributions provided in the supplementary material.