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Asked by anon-73912 on 23 Apr 2020.
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Claire Brockett answered on 23 Apr 2020:
I don’t think either is better – both engineers and scientists can do important work and often we work together as a team.
At the moment, in my job, I am working with a biologist, a physicist, two computer modellers, one surgeon, a podiatrist, a biomechanics scientist – as well as lots of other engineers. Everyone bringing important skills to a problem makes it much easier to solve.So both are equally as good 🙂
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K-Jo O'Flynn answered on 23 Apr 2020:
Both are as good as eachother! It just depends if your more a paperwork person (scientist) or practical (engineer). Both help the world in incredible ways and help keep it moving.
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Louise France answered on 23 Apr 2020:
I think it is really hard to differentiate between a scientist and an engineer, other than by the qualifications they have. Both design, make and test things using experiments. Both contribute to society in a way that allows us to evolve and push the limits.
Neither could exist without the other. It just depends what you are interested in 🙂
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Stephen Lang answered on 23 Apr 2020:
As I am an engineer I want to say Engineer, but in reality neither is better than the other. It is a bit like a yacht. It has a sail and a hull, without the hull the sail just floats around unable to function, and without the sail, the yacht just floats around aimlessly. To move forward the two have to work together.
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Diana Mathew answered on 23 Apr 2020:
Both professions are equally important. Sometimes it is a bit difficult to explain the difference between the two but i’ll it a go.
Similarity – they both need good understanding of Science, Maths and Technology.
Difference – Scientists usually are involved in observing and understanding how things work or evolve in nature. For e.g., an astrophysicist trying to understand the chemical composition of a distant star to explain its birth/death, a physicist trying to understand how sub-atomic particles interact. Engineers usually would make use of this scientific knowledge to create a new equipment/machine/process. For example, nuclear engineering is based on the science of nuclear fusion that happen in celestial bodies; Electronic Engineering is based on semiconductor physics. -
Katie Sparks answered on 23 Apr 2020:
They can be very similar – you work as part of a team, you try things out and see how it goes, you write reports and give presentations on your findings, you have a set amount of time and money to do things in.
That said, I like to think of science as “what is going on here?” and engineering as “how am I going to do that?”
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Alistair McConnell answered on 23 Apr 2020:
Why not be both? I work as a researcher in robotics which involves both being an engineer and being a scientist. There is some much cross over between the two so I would not say either is better or worse.
Comments
Tatsuki commented on :
Scientists and Engineers are like different sides of the same coin. Both are solving important problems, and one cannot be without the other. I was trained to be an engineer, but I regularly publish my work in the domain of the physical sciences.
I think it is a positive feedback loop between engineering and science that fuels innovation. Improving scientific understanding allows you to make better products, and the improved products allows you to make better scientific measurements!
joeyorkfisher commented on :
Here is a simple way to think about Scientists and Engineers:
Scientists – Find out new ways of doing and thinking about stuff, such as making a new type of medication with chemistry, or discovering a new way to make metal with material science, or even working out how everything in the universe is connected using physics!
Engineers – take this new knowledge, found by the scientists, and they make it useful to everybody. Such as: finding ways to mass-produce the new medication or metal so that it is affordable for everyone to use, or using advanced physics knowledge to produce clever gadgets like satellites we use for your cars GPS or even the global internet that you use everyday.
So as you can see, you can’t have the modern world you live in without a combination of the two professions. When Scientists and Engineers work well together, anything is possible.
Rob H commented on :
Scientists and Engineers often work together and by doing so can achieve things that each discipline cannot do by itself. The key difference is scientists generally discover new things about the world whereas engineers take this knowledge and often ask themselves “Is this the best way to do this?” or “Here is the problem, how do I solve it?”.
Take the Mars Rover for example, Scientists are needed so they can interpret the data that the rover collects while on Mars whereas the Engineers are responsible for making sure the Rover lands safely on Mars and is operational when it lands and stays operational for the length of the mission.
Marty commented on :
I’m an Engineer so I am going to say Engineers are the best. Wonder how many of my fellow engineers agree?