Of Historians,Engineers and Structural Failure
Augustine Togonu-Bickersteth
Of Historians, Engineers , and structural failures by Augustine Togonu-Bickesteth, London, England
Strengthening public institutions is key to driving social engineering- Falola, vanguard, January 13 2022
The African elders have said ``If a man does not know about the disease that killed his father that disease might end up killing him “ This is one reason why we study History. Another reason the elders have given is that if you do not know where you are going to, you would at least know where you are coming from.
Furthermore,the Nigerian society of Engineers and perhaps r the larger body of those in the Built Environment may have to consult or involve Nigerian Historians as far as unraveling the History of Building collapse in Nigeria otherwise known as structural failure
History is about chaps and Geography is about maps and Akin Mabogunje tells us that all geography is Historical
I must add that a report in the Guardian today September 14 2022 reveals that 15 billion naira would be required to replace colonial administrative maps. This somehow gives an inkling to the nigerian problem :colonial administrative maps being used in 2021!!!. Of course we have been told where there are no maps there would be no development.
Lastly, beyond structural failure where it helps to make ethical choices, engineers need to cultivate history of their discipline because research have shown it helps them to better understand classroom work in real world settings.there is a related article in the journal, the conversation of august 15 2016 titled why science and engineering need to remind students of forgotten lessons from history by mohammad h, zaman of boston university
There is Professor Ralph Augustine writing on the importance of History to Engineers. there is also Professor Henry petroski a civil engineer and historian specializing in structural failure analysis/ which is our main interest in this write up