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When we think of famous engineers, the first names that most think of are the boomers and those much, much older.
Thomas Edison, for his invention of the light bulb, amongst other things. Henry Ford of the Ford Motor Company for creating the assembly line. Alexander Graham Bell, credited with patenting the first practical telephone.
Sure enough, it’s not hard to see the possibilities engineers can achieve, to the point that the 2012 sci-fi film “Prometheus” calls the “Engineer” in the movie the most perfect organism, creating human life from a bio-engineered substance called black goo.
Although calling real-world engineers “perfect organisms” is a stretch, they do play an important role in the planet we live on, creating things – machines, structures, software and hardware, and many more — that power a huge part of our lives.
The most famous engineers of the 21st century have simply taken things a step further.
6 famous engineers of today
Elon Musk even has the ear of US President Donald Trump. Source: AFP
Elon Musk
Probably the most famous engineer on the face of this planet, Elon Musk has been involved in many world-renowned projects to that have advanced the field of engineering.
He has dipped his toes into online payment with PayPal, artificial intelligence with Neuralink, EVs with Tesla, social media with X (formerly known as Twitter), and tunnel construction services with The Boring Company, to name a few.
His main focus, however, is in SpaceX, an aerospace company with an impressive list of firsts in space exploration – first to successfully launch and return a spacecraft from Earth’s orbit, first to deliver cargo and send humans to and from the ISS, first to use liquid-fuelled rockets as launch vehicles.
The list goes on. Though he’s more often called a businessman first, and engineer second, Musk does not have degrees in engineering.
Instead, he holds bachelor’s degrees in physics and economics from the University of Pennsylvania.
Satya Nadella brought Microsoft to newer heights, making him one of the most famous engineers of today. Source: AFP
Satya Nadella
Satya Nadella is living proof that a rookie can one day become CEO.
From being a Microsoft engineer to vice president of the Research & Development department and then as president of the System and Tools division, Nadella is today CEO of Microsoft.
But what was this famous engineer’s grand idea that changed the game? Cloud computing.
According to Microsoft, cloud computing is the delivery of computing services — including servers, storage, databases, networking, software, analytics, and intelligence — over the internet (“the cloud”) to offer faster innovation, flexible resources, and economies of scale.
Game-changing indeed.
Nadella graduated with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from India’s Manipal Institute of Technology. He also earned a master’s degree in computer science and an MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the University of Chicago, respectively.
Because he invented blue LED lights, Shuji Nakamura has become one of the world’s most famous engineers. Source: AFP
Shuji Nakamura
Those blue LED lights you see streamers use in their videos? It is all because of this man.
After completing his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electronic engineering at Tokushima University, Nakamura immediately went to work in the electronics industry.
His contribution? Blue LEDs. These are tiny semiconductor devices that emit blue light when electricity passes through them. Crucially, they enabled the creation of white LED light, a discovery achieved by combining blue light with other colours or using phosphors.
This was a major breakthrough in lighting technology due to their reduction of energy consumption since these new white light sources require ten times less energy than ordinary light bulbs, thus earning him the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Today, he teaches materials science at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Sundar Pichai went from unknown product manager to CEO of Google. Source: AFP
Sundar Pichai
How did an unknown product manager become the CEO of Google, arguably the most powerful tech company in the world?
Creating one of the most popular Internet browsers of all time can get you there. Google’s own browser, Chrome, is Pichai’s brainchild to compete with other search engines like Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.
Today, Chrome is the most used browser in the world.
His innovation didn’t stop there. He also helped launch the Android OS, Chromebook, and oversaw all of Google’s platforms like Search, Maps, Play, Gmail, and Workspace.
Pichai graduated with a bachelor’s degree in metallurgical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur.
He also holds a master’s degree in materials science and engineering from Stanford University and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania.
Robert S. Langer is the founder of tissue engineering in regenerative medicine. Source: AFP
Robert S. Langer
Robert S. Langer Jr. is widely regarded as the founder of tissue engineering in regenerative medicine, thanks to his contributions to the fields of medicine and biotechnology.
More specifically, his title can be accredited to his creation of engineered blood vessels and vascularised engineered muscle tissue.
Not only that, Langer developed new technologies for transdermal drug delivery, a type of cancer treatment using an angiogenesis inhibitor to prevent tumour growth, and chip technology for delivering chemotherapy too.
He received his bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and his doctorate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), both in chemical engineering.
US President George W. Bush (R) “high fives” 2007 National Medal of Science award winner Dr. Andrew Viterbi of Los Angeles, California, during the award presentation in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, September 29, 2008. Source: AFP
Dr. Andrew Viterbi
Dr. Andrew Viterbi is known for creating an algorithm that allows programmes to compute the most probable path.
Take the weather function on your phone, for example. The probability and percentage of whether it will rain, be sunny, or be cloudy are determined by observing activities collected over several days, thus determining the most likely weather conditions.
His algorithm is also used in DNA analysis and speech recognition tools.
Now, Viterbi is a successful businessman, having founded Qualcomm, a multinational company specialising in chip-making used in most modern devices, such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, and desktop computers.
Viterbi has a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in electrical engineering from MIT and a PhD in digital communications from the University of Southern California.
Why famous engineers go to famous schools
You might have noticed a pattern with the abovementioned famous engineers, and if not, we’ll spell it out for you: most of them attended famous schools — and it’s not coincidental too.
You’ll find that many engineers, famous or not, chose to study at prolific institutions, such as the MIT School of Engineering, Stanford University School of Engineering, and the University of Oxford‘s Department of Engineering Science – all ranked among the top engineering schools by QS Top Universities.
Attending the best engineering school provides access to a rigorous curriculum, cutting-edge research opportunities, highly qualified faculty, strong industry connections, and potentially better career prospects with higher salaries, especially in demanding fields where innovation and technical expertise are highly valued.
Bill Nye studied at Cornell University. Source: AFP
“It’s all just part of how Cornell [University] has affected me,” mechanical engineer turned science communicator Bill Nye said during a keynote address celebrating 150 years of mechanical engineering at his former university.
“The dancing, the sundial, the clock, the Mars dials. Cornell has changed my life. Cornell has made me who I am.”
It’s not to say that attending a non-prestigious engineering university will reduce your chances of success, but it is best to proceed with caution.
For example, it’s unlikely that you’ll find Anna University, Chennai to be a place where the world’s most famous engineers have graduated from. This is because, in July 2024, it was revealed that the university had a case of phantom professors, with only 189 out of 2,000 listed faculty positions filled.
To make matters worse, professors from its engineering colleges are found to be working in more than one institution, conflicting with their designated position assigned on the All India Council for Technical Education, an Indian regulatory body for educators that prevents them from holding multiple full-time positions.
