The greatest (engineering) achievement of mankind

[Camacha]

Lately I have noticed that a lot of US citizens view the Apollo program to be the greatest (engineering) achievement of mankind. Although I think it was a pretty nifty thing to pull off, I cannot help but feel that this idea in large part exists because of the massive amounts of propaganda surrounding the Apollo program (partly due to political tensions). Mankind has done some other pretty unbelievable things and some of those can at least rival the Apollo program.

That got me thinking what I consider to be the greatest achievent up till now. There will probably be bigger achievements in the future, but we are talking about those that already exist. There are two ways to go about this:

- The greatest achievement in an absolute sense, so not taking into account what was known at the time or what resources were available. Just simply what the best thing man built or devised is today.

- The relatively greatest achievement, where people heroically engineered a marvel of technology in difficult times with little tools of knowledge.

What is your take on the subject? Please refrain from making this a cold war flamewar, this it about celebrating the achievements of all mankind

[Camacha]

When it comes to absolute achievements I think I must cast a vote for the LHC. Not only is it a marvel of technology, it is also a massive success when it comes to politics and colaboration. We have overcome petty political problems and stuck together (coming from lots of different cultures) to research the fundamentals of life and our very existence. It is not a project instigated to fullfil some personal agenda, but a true quest for knowledge about how the universe works. And of course, it is absolutely massive in every way.

When talking about relative achiements I am pretty impressed with the waterworks of the Dutch. Even with very simple means they managed to dry out land centuries ago and nowadays their country is below sea level for a large part. They even created a whole province from the sea bed, as seen below. The part on the aerial photo below is just the outermost left tip of the much, much bigger (manmade) island on the second picture.

The surface area of the island is about 65 kilometers (40 miles) long, 35 kilometers wide (21 miles) and 1,419 km2 (548 sq mi).

[Will Fawkes]

For me?

Tempted to say 'The Internet' because it took every nation contributing to get into the network but I don't know if that would count as one project.

Otherwise, the pyramids. Given the egyptians dind't even have the wheel and only had a touch and go understanding of engineering, geometry, and only had copper tools to cut limestone and granite with....

[astropapi1]

[PakledHostage]

Some good ones have been mentioned already. The wheel is certainly an influential engineering achievement. So is fire. The LHC is a political and a technical triumph, and the internet has changed the world.

My own bias is towards commercial aircraft, however. Daily utilization of an aircraft at a major carrier is upwards of 12 hours a day. More for long-haul aircraft. Maintenance opportunities at the airline's major base for an aircraft like a 767 may only happen once every week or so. Yet they fly thousands of hours every year covering hundreds of thousands of kilometres with an incredible safety, reliability and on time record. This despite the harsh environments that they operate in, and the efficiency and performance that we expect of them. Much like the internet, we take commercial airliners a bit for granted, but they have had a revolutionary effect on our societies.

[Nuke]

nuclear weapons

[Camacha]

Could you guys please remember to distinguish between absolute (aircraft) and relative (the wheel, fire) inventions and achievements as mentioned in the first post? Those are two different discussions and should be regarded as such.

I would count the internet as an absolute achievement, and a major one. For millennia mankind has toiled to gain knowledge and within the past 20 years or so, the internet has made that knowledge readily and without much cost available to pretty much everyone and anyone. The amount of knowledge is astounding and with the recent rise in free online courses from well-established educational facilities education becomes more widespread too. And we all know education is the great equalizer, removing social and economical imbalances while destroying harmful believes.

Now it is also up to us to ensure this same tool of sharing is not turned against us. It could become our worst nightmare, as we depend upon it yet it logs our every move. The internet should be about freedom and not about restricting or controlling it for local and political gain.

[Camacha]

My own bias is towards commercial aircraft, however. Daily utilization of an aircraft at a major carrier is upwards of 12 hours a day. More for long-haul aircraft. Maintenance opportunities at the airline's major base for an aircraft like a 767 may only happen once every week or so. Yet they fly thousands of hours every year covering hundreds of thousands of kilometres with an incredible safety, reliability and on time record. This despite the harsh environments that they operate in, and the efficiency and performance that we expect of them. Much like the internet, we take commercial airliners a bit for granted, but they have had a revolutionary effect on our societies.

I like this one. Not choosing a crazily exceptional project as such, but choosing to go for something that is exceptional and widespread. We roam the earth in metal birds of fire and it is pretty much the safest place to be.

[Superluminaut]

I'd have to go with cooking. As form of predigestion it maximizes our energy and material intake, the greatest performance enhancer we have ever devised. Although it could potential be topped by genetic engineering.

[Monger]

The LHC is probably the modern equivalent to a world wonder. Not only it's dimensions, but most technology in it is custom-made, and probably there was never a project where so many scientists from different cultures worked quite flawlessly together. The LHC is, without a doubt, the biggest machine ever built.

[nhnifong]

I know this sounds pretty silly, but I think the greatest feat of engineering yet achieved is the 16 nm semiconductor fabrication process utilizing controlled electron beam interference patterns. We are not just measuring things at the atomic scale, but building things at the atomic scale with billions of little parts working together flawlessly to produce processors that are installed in just about everything.

[Camacha]

I'd have to go with cooking. As form of predigestion it maximizes our energy and material intake, the greatest performance enhancer we have ever devised. Although it could potential be topped by genetic engineering.

Relative achievement, but a big one. I believe the idea is that with the discovery of fire and thus the easier digestion of nutrients our brains got the chance to grow, pretty much defining what we are as humans and enabling us to make all other inventions and discoveries.

I have often wondered what triggered those first monkeymen to dabble in firestarting, instead of being afraid of it as other animals are (except for Kerbalesque moths, those are brave and stupid) . Were their brains already wired differently, or was the change actually caused by accident because of the fire - and therefore nutrients.

The LHC is probably the modern equivalent to a world wonder. Not only it's dimensions, but most technology in it is custom-made, and probably there was never a project where so many scientists from different cultures worked quite flawlessly together. The LHC is, without a doubt, the biggest machine ever built.

Absolute achievement.

I know this sounds pretty silly, but I think the greatest feat of engineering yet achieved is the 16 nm semiconductor fabrication process utilizing controlled electron beam interference patterns. We are not just measuring things at the atomic scale, but building things at the atomic scale with billions of little parts working together flawlessly to produce processors that are installed in just about everything.

Absolute achievement. This does not sound silly at all, especially when you take into account all the things that 16 nm process makes possible. Not one branch of high technology can live without high end computational power.

This does also remind of the airliners, where it is not only a technology of an ingenious nature, it is also widespread. One could argue great inventions are only worth their salt if they are actually useful.

[magnemoe]

Could you guys please remember to distinguish between absolute (aircraft) and relative (the wheel, fire) inventions and achievements as mentioned in the first post? Those are two different discussions and should be regarded as such.

I would count the internet as an absolute achievement, and a major one. For millennia mankind has toiled to gain knowledge and within the past 20 years or so, the internet has made that knowledge readily and without much cost available to pretty much everyone and anyone. The amount of knowledge is astounding and with the recent rise in free online courses from well-established educational facilities education becomes more widespread too. And we all know education is the great equalizer, removing social and economical imbalances while destroying harmful believes.

Now it is also up to us to ensure this same tool of sharing is not turned against us. It could become our worst nightmare, as we depend upon it yet it logs our every move. The internet should be about freedom and not about restricting or controlling it for local and political gain.

Pretty much agree here, growing up before it I sometimes start thinking of how insanely powerful it is.

The thing who speaks against it is that it like most other network like the railway and highway ones who is larger achievements is that they evolved over time and you pretty much had to get something like it even if the result could be far less useful if unlucky.

[jwenting]

the biggest achievement of mankind is agriculture. Without that we'd still be a few wandering tribes of slightly bright great apes prowling the edges of the African savanna for roots, berries, and abandoned cadavers left by lions and other predators.

[Seret]

Depends how you measure "greatness". Are you looking for a single monolithic piece of construction that was significantly difficult to construct? Or are you after a breakthrough technology that's had the most impact on people's lives or subsequent technology?

Perspective counts for a lot too, ask a Dutchman and I'm sure you'd get the answer that his entire country counts as the single biggest engineering construction in the world. Ask someone from China or Egypt you'd probably get other answers.

[Tommygun]

I wouldn't overlook medical technologies: Penicillin, Antimalarial and Dysentery drugs. Dr Jonas Salk's work on polio vaccine to name a few.

Those I mentioned saved hundreds of millions of lives.

[KOCOUR]

I second that!

[Seret]

That's why I asked if we're talking about inventions that have caused the most benefit to people in general Tommygun. If we are including messy biotech (yuk) then vaccines or antibiotics have had almost unimaginable impact. Birth control would be another biggy. That one may well turn out to be what saves us in the long run.

[Nuke]

I know this sounds pretty silly, but I think the greatest feat of engineering yet achieved is the 16 nm semiconductor fabrication process utilizing controlled electron beam interference patterns. We are not just measuring things at the atomic scale, but building things at the atomic scale with billions of little parts working together flawlessly to produce processors that are installed in just about everything.

oh great, now i need to buy a new cpu again.

[Vaebn]

The bread slicer.

[Scotius]

Pants. With pockets. I only have to look outside the window at dreary autumn weather today to know it. Also toilet paper Small things, i know - but they keep us comfortable. And healthier than we would be without them.

[SargeRho]

I'm going with condoms. Boy would we be many without those...We'd have litterally screwed ourselves over

Alternatively, the ISS.

[NASAFanboy]

The International Space Station, and the Saturn Vs and SLS (If we ever complete it.).

[Alavarien-46]

I think printing is a pretty achievement, because for the first time humanity was able to spread information easily and quickly.

There is also the invention of the tin can which was the first way of preserving food without salt or by keeping it cold.

Those are not inventions that are spectacular, but they changed the life of millions of people.

[Karriz]

I'll go with Apollo program although I'm not an American.

Of course, there are also plenty of cool things we've done on the surface of the Earth. But actually landing humans on the surface of another celestial body, that's just... out of this world.