Washington inspires eWeek
Staff -- Consulting-Specifying Engineer, 8/1/2007
National Engineers Week, scheduled for Feb. 17 to Feb. 23 in Washington, D.C., traces its roots back to 1951. It was founded by the National Society of Professional Engineers and has grown to a coalition of more than 70 engineering societies and more than 50 major corporations and government agencies. eWeek is celebrated around the time of George Washington's birthday, as America's first president was a military engineer and a land surveyor.
On June 9, 1778, at Valley Forge, Pa., General George Washington issued a call for engineers and engineering education. This order is considered the genesis of a U.S. Army Engineer School, which found its permanent home at Fort Belvoir, Va., where Washington practiced surveying. In 1794, President Washington established a Corps of Artillerists and Engineers to be educated and stationed at West Point in New York, which later become the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
From transportation to education, Washington's engineering vision proved to be ahead of its time. After his death in 1799, many of the technologies he supported provided an impetus to the American Industrial Revolution.
