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Engineering Peace and Justice

The Responsibility of Engineers to Society

  • Book
  • © 2010

Overview

Authors:
  1. P. Aarne Vesilind

    1. Dept. Civil & Environmental Engineering, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, USA

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  • Details the history of engineering and the development of the pro-active use of engineering skills in the promotion of peace: "peace engineering"

  • Presents stories of contemporary engineers who have used their technical skills in the promotion of peace: "peace engineers"

  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

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Table of contents (7 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-viii
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  2. The Evolution of the Engineering Profession

    Pages 1-13

  3. Military Engineering

    Pages 15-49

  4. Civilian Engineering

    Pages 51-76

  5. The Engineer’s Commitment to Society

    Pages 77-99

  6. Engineering and the Environment

    Pages 101-118

  7. Peace and Justice

    Pages 119-134

  8. Peace Engineering

    Pages 135-157

  9. Back Matter

    Pages 159-167
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Keywords

About this book

Some years ago when I was chair of the department of civil and environmental engineering, a colleague introduced me to a visitor from Sandia Laboratories, perhaps the largest developer of armaments and weapons systems in the world. We had a nice visit, and as we chatted, the talk naturally centered on the visitor’s engineering work. It turned out that his job in recent years had been to develop a new acoustic triggering device for bombs. As he explained it, the problem with bombs was that the plunger triggering mechanism could fail if the bomb hit at an angle, and thus the explosives would not detonate. To get around this, he dev- oped an acoustic trigger that would detonate the explosives as soon as the bomb hit any solid surface, even at an angle. As he talked, I watched his face. His enthusiasm for his work was clearly e- dent, and his animated explanations of what they had developed at Sandia exuded pride and excitement. I thought about asking him what it felt like to have spent his engineering career designing better ways to kill people or to destroy property – the sole purpose of a bomb. I wondered how many people had been killed because this man had dev- oped a clever acoustic triggering device. But good sense and decorum prevailed and I did not ask him such questions. We parted as friends and in good spirits.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Dept. Civil & Environmental Engineering, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, USA

    P. Aarne Vesilind

About the author

Aarne Vesilind worked in engineering education for about 35 years, teaching environmental engineering and professional ethics first at Duke University and then at Bucknell University, where he held a chaired professorship and organized a successful conference on peace engineering.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Engineering Peace and Justice

  • Book Subtitle: The Responsibility of Engineers to Society

  • Authors: P. Aarne Vesilind

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84882-674-8

  • Publisher: Springer London

  • eBook Packages: Engineering, Engineering (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer-Verlag London 2010

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-84882-673-1Published: 18 August 2010

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-1-4471-5822-6Published: 20 October 2014

  • eBook ISBN: 978-1-84882-674-8Published: 17 October 2010

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: VIII, 167

  • Topics: Civil Engineering, Philosophy of Technology, Professional & Vocational Education

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