John Smeaton(1724.7.8 – 1792.10.9)他是第一个用土木工程师的称谓来称呼自己的职业英国工程师，其从业范围涉及桥梁工程、近海工程、港口工程以及特种工程。

同时也是一位著名的物理学家和颇有才干的机械工程师。

在西方，这些技术人员会在社会中会分得一部分中产阶级的位置，以彰显社会工程师们所作贡献的重视。

我也听过这样一句话，任何一个在现代社会里的人，至少应该阅读过工程概论的书籍抑或是对某一门工程有所了解，这样他才能熟悉以及了解这个社会的运转模式，因为这个现代社会是毕竟是由工程师创造与运营的。

对于我们这些准工程师而言一直会问这样几个问题，来完成对于自我的构建。其中包括：

第一，我们所从事的行业有什么意义。

第二，从事这个行业以后如何谋求最大的个人利益。

第三，如何成为一个优秀的工程师。

我第一次的有限元课老师用这样的话来作为开头：

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

仅以此文，献给伟大的土木工程师们，他们用残缺不全的力学，使用未知的材料去对抗未知的荷载。