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Spencer Reed
ENGR 57 03D
1/30/2017
Write (preferably type) a brief paragraph (~5-10 sentences) describing an example of ethics
in engineering from a real situation (e.g., in the news, in your own work, from the work of an
engineer you know or have interviewed). Describe the situation as well as the ethical decisions
(5 pts)
A major example of horrible ethics in engineering was in the year of 1912 when one of
the largest passenger ship (The Titanic) sank in the North Atlantic Ocean. It was early in the
morning on April 15th, 1912 during the maiden voyage from South Hampton to New York City
when this ship with almost 2,300 passengers collided with an iceberg which ended in the deaths
of more than 1500 people. Looking back on this catastrophic time in Americas history there are
many reasons people believe to why the ship sank. Many people say that it’s because of the
climate. The cold climate caused there to me more icebergs forming and the tides from winds
sent icebergs southwards months before the voyage. All of which seems like just excuse for the
main reason, that being the lack of knowledge and total understanding of the conditions of the
sea that the ship would have to endure to stay floating, which puts the engineers responsible.
To my understanding the main reason to this big disaster in 1912 is the materials used in
creating this once known as “Unsinkable Ship”. In researching this idea, I came across two
Metallurgists (material science engineers) Tim Foecke and Jennifer Hooper McCarty which
actually notices that the materials used to create the Titanic was not even close to making this
