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"The modern world we enjoy wouldn&amp;#039;t exist without the efforts of engineers who have taken fundamental scientific principles and applied them to solve problems from the mundane to the fantastical. While the task of creating solutions has been with us as long as we&amp;#039;ve used tools, formal engineering education is actually a relatively new concept. The earliest engineers that developed items like wheels some 7,000 years ago were undoubtedly self-taught, learning basic mechanical principles through serendipity or trial and error. Eventually, as civilization organized, engineering was expressed mainly through trades such as building or smithing. The training of new engineers was done mainly through apprenticeships where novices worked for several years alongside their mentors, learning the tricks of the trade. The word &amp;quot;engineer&amp;quot; only has its origins in the 14th century as an &amp;quot;operator of engines,&amp;quot; while engine goes back about another 100 years, derived from the Latin ingenium, or &amp;quot;innate quality, especially mental power, hence a clever invention.&amp;quot; Today when we hear the word &amp;quot;engine,&amp;quot; we think of the machines that power our vehicles, but in the 13th century, the word mostly referred to war machines and siege engines like catapults and trebuchets.  Thus, the first people to earn the formal title of engineer were the military engineers who built these weapons and fortifications. Among those was a certain Florentine named Leonardo da Vinci. Perhaps you&amp;#039;ve heard of him. Da Vinci conceived a wide variety of weapons, most of which would not actually become practical to build or use for several hundred years. The first formalized engineering schools began in France in the 19th century, and eventually the idea spread to other countries. Even well into the 20th century, many engineers still came up through the practical apprenticeship ranks, including eventual auto industry titans Henry Ford and Ferdinand Porsche. Today, most young people who want to be engineers typically spend four to five years in university-level programs. In the first year or two, they study the basics of chemistry, physics, calculus, computer programing and economics. After that, they tend to split off into the engineering disciplines they choose to specialize in, such as electrical, mechanical, civil or computer.  As technology has become more advanced and complex, engineering specialties have tended to become narrower, although there&amp;#039;s still a large degree of overlap. After all, today&amp;#039;s engineers need a solid understanding of computers, software, electrical systems and even chemistry, whether they plan to design bridges, smartphones or internal combustion engines. In just the last few years, the beginnings of another transformation have begun thanks to online learning. A number of established universities along with startups like Udacity and Coursera are putting recorded lectures for all sorts of classes online, meaning aspiring engineers may soon be able to earn degrees without ever setting foot on a campus.  Until the last hundred years or so, engineers were frequently viewed more as blue-collar tradesman than the white-collars professionals they are today. Look around the executive offices of any major automaker today, and you&amp;#039;ll often find that the people running the show have engineering pedigrees. The combination of technology and law that must be understood and used by today&amp;#039;s engineers would have been unthinkable even 50 years ago. So while the fat cats on Wall Street may look down on the humble engineer, they wouldn&amp;#039;t be able to drive their six-figure luxury sedans and sports cars without them. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a4461/the-road-ahead-evolution-of-auto-engineering-education/?src=global_footer>