Engineering is achieving function while avoiding failure.

Surveying and engineering were quite close back then.

Relying on nothing but scientific knowledge to produce an engineering solution is to invite frustration at best and failure at worst.

Failure is central to engineering. Every single calculation that an engineer makes is a failure calculation. Successful engineering is all about understanding how things break or fail.

I emphasize that virtually every engineering calculation is ultimately a failure calculation, because without a failure criterion against which to measure the calculated result, it is a meaningless number.

Science is about knowing; engineering is about doing.