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    An Engineered World

    The Role of Engineers in Global Modernity

    Part of Engineering Studies

    Edited by Edward Beatty, Israel G. Solares
    Ebook
    The MIT Press
    On sale Nov 11, 2025 | 332 Pages | 9780262384735
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    How engineering as a modern profession emerged as a global phenomenon—and why its development and expansion are so critical to our understanding of twentieth-century world history.

    An Engineered World examines the dramatic and global expansion of modern, professional engineering between roughly 1870 and 1950. Over these decades, the number of people who called themselves “engineers” (or who were recognized as such by others) expanded from a small and eclectic number of individuals to one of the most numerous, mobile, and influential professional groups of the twentieth century.

    Tens of thousands of university-trained engineers and other professionalized technical experts, a few famous but most anonymous, became critical to the technological, organizational, and political development of global capitalism and socialism in the twentieth century. This was the case in Western Europe and the United States, and it was also true in colonial settings and independent countries around the world, where the institutions of modern engineering were often established in the same era.

    This collection edited by Edward Beatty and Israel Solares presents eight case studies of engineers’ work and interactions situated in local, national, or regional places but always intersecting with global influences.

    Contributors: Edward Beatty, Marco Bertilorenzi, Aurora Gómez-Galvarriato, Mark Hendrickson, Doug Jones, Elisabeth Köll, Aparajith Ramnath, Israel G. Solares, Stephen Tuffnell, Mikael Wolfe
    Contributors
    Acknowledgements
    1. Introduction: Toward an Engineered World
    Edward Beatty & Israel G. Solares
    2. “A Man of Many Parts”: Consulting Engineers and the Engineering of Mass Mining Capitalism
    Stephen Tuffnell
    3. “Engineering Scientists” in Mexico, 1876-1911: The Case of Meteorology
    Mikael Wolfe
    4. Cornerstone of That New Imperialism: U.S. Mining Engineers and Labor Management in Southern Africa, 1890-1910
    Doug Jones
    5. Engineering Mobilities across East Asia: China at the Intersection of Local, Regional, and Global Interactions
    Elisabeth Köll
    6. Engineering Knowledge and the Emergence of China as a Global Leader in Antimony Production
    Mark Hendrickson
    7. French Mining Capitalism Abroad: Mobility of Engineers, Technology Transfer and Investments Flows
    Marco Bertilorenzi
    8. From Eminent Engineer to Authority on Economic Planning: Sir M. Visvesvaraya in Interwar India
    Aparajith Ramnath
    9. The Globalization of American Engineers: U.S. International Development Policy and the Armour Research Foundation.
    Aurora Gómez-Galvarriato
    10. Conclusions: Mobilities and the Emergence of a Global Profession
    Edward Beatty & Israel G. Solares
    Selected References
    Notes

    About

    How engineering as a modern profession emerged as a global phenomenon—and why its development and expansion are so critical to our understanding of twentieth-century world history.

    An Engineered World examines the dramatic and global expansion of modern, professional engineering between roughly 1870 and 1950. Over these decades, the number of people who called themselves “engineers” (or who were recognized as such by others) expanded from a small and eclectic number of individuals to one of the most numerous, mobile, and influential professional groups of the twentieth century.

    Tens of thousands of university-trained engineers and other professionalized technical experts, a few famous but most anonymous, became critical to the technological, organizational, and political development of global capitalism and socialism in the twentieth century. This was the case in Western Europe and the United States, and it was also true in colonial settings and independent countries around the world, where the institutions of modern engineering were often established in the same era.

    This collection edited by Edward Beatty and Israel Solares presents eight case studies of engineers’ work and interactions situated in local, national, or regional places but always intersecting with global influences.

    Contributors: Edward Beatty, Marco Bertilorenzi, Aurora Gómez-Galvarriato, Mark Hendrickson, Doug Jones, Elisabeth Köll, Aparajith Ramnath, Israel G. Solares, Stephen Tuffnell, Mikael Wolfe

    Table of Contents

    Contributors
    Acknowledgements
    1. Introduction: Toward an Engineered World
    Edward Beatty & Israel G. Solares
    2. “A Man of Many Parts”: Consulting Engineers and the Engineering of Mass Mining Capitalism
    Stephen Tuffnell
    3. “Engineering Scientists” in Mexico, 1876-1911: The Case of Meteorology
    Mikael Wolfe
    4. Cornerstone of That New Imperialism: U.S. Mining Engineers and Labor Management in Southern Africa, 1890-1910
    Doug Jones
    5. Engineering Mobilities across East Asia: China at the Intersection of Local, Regional, and Global Interactions
    Elisabeth Köll
    6. Engineering Knowledge and the Emergence of China as a Global Leader in Antimony Production
    Mark Hendrickson
    7. French Mining Capitalism Abroad: Mobility of Engineers, Technology Transfer and Investments Flows
    Marco Bertilorenzi
    8. From Eminent Engineer to Authority on Economic Planning: Sir M. Visvesvaraya in Interwar India
    Aparajith Ramnath
    9. The Globalization of American Engineers: U.S. International Development Policy and the Armour Research Foundation.
    Aurora Gómez-Galvarriato
    10. Conclusions: Mobilities and the Emergence of a Global Profession
    Edward Beatty & Israel G. Solares
    Selected References
    Notes

    Additional formats

    • An Engineered World
      An Engineered World
      The Role of Engineers in Global Modernity
      9780262553353
      $70.00 US
      Paperback
      The MIT Press
      Nov 11, 2025
    • An Engineered World
      An Engineered World
      The Role of Engineers in Global Modernity
      9780262553353
      $70.00 US
      Paperback
      The MIT Press
      Nov 11, 2025

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