But that's a fluke, a feature of the history of engineering that reflects what we've learned to build.
What Mr. Elop's Nokia experience doesn't show is a history of engineering turnarounds that could be translated to Microsoft.
"Derby, the home of Rolls-Royce, has a proud history of engineering excellence, but local secondary schools are failing to deliver top-rate GCSE results.
His maternal grandfather, Miles Tomalin, fought for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War before becoming a pacifist, and studied the history of engineering.
Radio City Music Hall has a long history of engineering such large-scale spectacles, and the enhanced acoustics and slightly diminished visuals were scrupulously calibrated to capture the ear without denying the eye.
For help, Bartholdi turned to Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel, "one of the great geniuses in the history of engineering," who a few years later would create the tower that has become synonymous with Paris.
For the historical development of the different sciences and their scope, component disciplines, methods, and principal problems, see physical science; Earth sciences; biology; medicine, history of; engineering; social science.
And this weapon, the police theory had it, would have been built by a man with no access to the necessary machinery, no history of engineering at all, who couldn't even drive and apparently has trouble doing up his buttons.
"There are lots of good ideas here and a strong history of engineering and design, but we don't commercialize and build sustainable business — we sell them to others," said Diana Blake, sales and marketing director at Optimal Energy, which is preparing to produce the Joule, Africa's first battery-powered car.
The Germans have not been to the fore in this: only six German-made cars currently meet the EU target Mrs Merkel is fighting, compared with 34 made by their competitors.It would be foolish to bet against Germany's carmakers with their formidable history of engineering and design.
