When Graduation’s Over, Learning Begins

CHAPTER 4

Engineering Ethics and Moral Responsibility

On September 13, 1848, Phineas Gage, a 25-year-old foreman for the Rutland & Burlington Railroad was overseeing a construction crew blasting the granite cliffs along the rolling hills of Cavendish, Vermont. After drilling a hole deep into the rock, a worker would place a dynamite charge into it, add some insulating powder, typically a mixture of sand and clay, and then using a long metal rod, would tamp the charge and powder tight into the hole, as if loading a cannon barrel. At a little past 4 o’clock that afternoon, Phineas Gage found himself standing in the wrong place at the wrong time. Suddenly, the dynamite discharged and the 43-in.-long steel rod weighing over 13 pounds shot out of ...