History of Engineering

Year Installed: 2002
Artist: Larry Kirkland
Materials: Engraved and Carved Granite
Dimensions: 4′ x 3′ x 128′
Location: Rowan Hall
Latitude & Longitude:
39°42’42.9″N 75°07’21.0″W

Designed by artist Larry Kirkland, this public artwork, History of Engineering, is a seat wall facing the pond on the south side of the Henry M. Rowan Hall, the first facility built for the Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering. History of Engineering is made of elaborate engravings and carved granite.

The sculpture begins with the invention of twine and knots and continues with Archimedes’ screw, medieval battering rams, and fortifications, experiments in early physics and chemistry, the great discoveries of the age of realism, to Victorian bridges, machinery, and industrial process to modern advances in building materials, nanotechnology and space exploration. The engraved linear history is topped with carved granite objects related to the story of engineering and invention: a pyramid, wine press screw, anvil, caffeine molecule, lightbulb, spark plug, and computer mouse.