The Call of Engineering
By Robert T. Pennock
The engineer’s ethos is symbolized in rings of cold-worked metal.
This Article From Issue
July-August 2025
Volume 113, Number 4
Page 216
On April 25, 1925, the first Calling of an Engineer ceremony was performed in Montreal, Canada. Six engineers pledged themselves to uphold the ethical standards and kindred spirit of their vocation. Historical documentation of the ceremony states that the Obligation, as it was called, was taken over “ancient landmarks” of the engineering profession: a machinist’s hammer, a blacksmith’s anvil, and a chain, all of “honorable working record,” tried and tested in service. Rings made of iron, which had been cold-worked by convalescing World War I veterans, to be worn on the little finger of the working hand, would serve as a reminder of the serious responsibilities that engineers take on. A week later, 107 more engineers took the Obligation in Toronto. Thereafter, the ceremony spread across Canada.
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- The history of engineering dates back to ancient China, ancient Egypt, and earlier, but the first known ceremony pledging engineers to their profession was in 1925.
- Science and engineering go hand in hand as research helps determine the constraints and affordances that make technology possible, which further drives new discoveries.
- The obligation of the engineer includes the promise to be meticulous in practice, to persevere in design challenges, and to hold the line against failure as best as humanly possible.
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