Introduction

Horace Greeley, Art and Industry, 1853

In 1815, when Napoleon lost the Battle of Waterloo, a long period of war ended, and a new era began. In this new period of relative peace and optimism, a major technological dream took hold, critics be damned: after centuries of poverty, war, and misery, technology and industry would shape a period of true progress. Given the industrial revolution and new scientific breakthroughs, the expectation was clear: the great social challenges that plagued humanity would be solved. Inventions and innovations would change the world.

Social challenges were wide-ranging and threatening during this period. Even in Northwestern Europe, the richest part of the world, the great majority of the population was mired in poverty. Endemic hunger and malnutrition, poor drinking water and unhealthy housing prevailed. These circumstances bred infectious diseases, and life expectancies were often lower than age thirty-five. Most people lacked access to all but local energy, mobility, food, and information. It was technology that promised great improvements in all areas.

In this chapter, we will unravel several kinds of promises made during the Age of Promise—technological promises to solve social challenges faced by society, enterprise, and users. Here, we examine how these challenges came to engage the engineering sciences and profession.

During this period, technology's promise was on display at one of the greatest, most influential events of its kind: The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations. Held in London in 1851, the event was the first in an ongoing series of world expositions. Its goal was to showcase groundbreaking technological achievements and design. This new concept captured the mid-nineteenth-century imagination: six million people (the equivalent of one-third of the British population at the time!) visited the exhibition to see how technology was changing the world.