Fire Protection Engineering — Science or Art?

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.