The Engineer’s Courageous Mastery

On December 4th, the engineering faculty at KU Leuven celebrates Saint Barbara, the patroness of the engineers. After my graduation, I discovered that the old mine region around Esch-sur-Alzette and Dudelange in Luxembourg (the so-called Minette) also celebrates Sainte Barbe on this day, as she is also the protectress of the miners. So it is a good day to reflect on the nature of the engineering profession.

The older I get, the more I realise what a privilege it is to be an engineer. Like all professions, it is a vocation and a suffering at the same time. Let me start with the drawbacks: the relative absence of the female gender, the difficult education and the relatively hard work (on average). The good things are: the education is wonderful; you get an insight into the wonderful working of so many things, that you become about capable of understanding almost anything else (except fiscal declaration forms and fiscal calculations – Einstein said he couldn’t understand them either; let that be our comfort). And last but not least, engineers have a constructive role; they contribute in many ways to the value creation in economy and to the general well-being.

When you get older, you realise also that the daily life of an engineer is rarely filled with differential equations. It is rather filled with attempts to master chaos. On this picture, made by Jan van Eyck, you can actually see the engineer at work. Behind Barbara’s back, you can see the chaotic wharf of a cathedral in construction. The engineer gives instructions to a man on top of the tower who is heaving a load of stones upward by means of a crane driven by men in the tower. In the lonely landscape, a group of noblemen is approaching the cathedral to see how things are going  😊.

In the 21st century, engineers don’t build cathedrals anymore (except in Catalonia). We now build satellite communication and satellite navigation systems. But we still need to manage chaos. Let us hope Saint Barbara will stay with us.

Inspiration came from an article by Eric Rinckhout in Davidsfonds Cultuurmagazine.