Engineering is the application of technology to useful ends. Originally, engineering was based entirely on art rather than science. About 200 years ago, science developed suffi ciently so that it began to be important in certain technologies. This importance of sci ence accelerated in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and today certain branches of engineering are 90% science-based. Fire protection engineering is only 25% science- based today, according to the author's estimate, but the percentage is growing rapidly. Examples are given.
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References
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Friedman, R., Principles of Fire Protection Chemistry, National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, MA, 1989.
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National Academy of Sciences, Fire and Smoke: Understanding the Hazards, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 1986.
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Drysdale, D., An Introduction to Fire Dynamics, John Wiley, New York, 1985.
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SFPE Handbook of Fire Protection Engineering, National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, MA, 1988.
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Fire Safety Science: First and Second International Symposia , Hemisphere Publishing Corp., New York, 1986 and 1989.
