1877 Le Creusot world's largest steam hammer

[Frank S]

A rabbit-holing I dove. Found the declining moment when creativity was superseded by gleaned material. Now the former achieves little interest, but the latter can't operate in a vacuum.
Entry # 213 in year 2000 George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering of 1888 in Atlanta, Georgia USA.
The leader transforming mechanical engineering education from a shop-based, vocational program to a professional one built on rigorous academic and analytical methods.
I wonder, has the success to failure ratio of then versus now ever been calculated?

In 2004 a group of soon to be graduating students approached the company I was with in Kuwait for the possibility of completing a project for credit in their degree in mechanical engineering. The project is unimportant the methodology of the completion of said project became very important. the boys , well young men, had the math skills down pat, implementing and understanding what their calculations were all about plus how to judge when pure math skill is not enough to visualize real world circumstances was another matter entirely. All of the math skills in the world can not fully work out every situation or failure instance without cradle to grave knowledge of the materials being incorporated and how different methods of manufacture, assembly or attachment may not always conform to the same exact principals laid out in a text book each and every time in what ever project you are tasked with. For these reasons lab or real world testing will always have to remain the final say in a design. If it weren't then a new space ship model could be built entirely on a computer then constructed in real life and flown to outer space with human passengers and never be required to be subjected to the arduous rigors of pre flight testing

[Toolmaker51]

I'll place trust in them; when they can design, source and field a product not subject to recalls. . .