Are your relatives engineers or scientists

[cronanster]

On my mom's side:
GRandfather was a field engineer for Burrows and later Unisys, working on mainframes.
My uncle is a electronic engineer.
His son is a Chemical Engineer for Caterpillar
Second son is in school for Mechanical Engineering
Third is also in school for Electrical Engineering.

On my dad's side:
An uncle was a Civil Engineer, and a cousin that is an Engineering Manager.
a lot of businessmen and nurses.
Grandfather was a police officer, but was a very big tinker. He rebuilt cars, repaired tv's, built all kind of things.

In my immediate family, my mom never went to college, dad never finished.
I am a mechanical engineer and my sister is working on her master's for psychology.

 

[FrancisZ]

I guess it's safe to say: both of my parents were scientifically inclined, to some degree. My dad graduated from Pratt with an Architectural degree; and my mother studied Nursing.

 

[physics girl phd]

My dad (the oldest of eight) and his next closest brother were both electrical engineers at Bell Labs. I don't think there are any scientist/engineering types on my mother's side (also one of eight) except through marriage... though she comes from an agricultural family, which certainly requires some mechanical aptitude, accounting skill, and understanding of nature. A fair number of aunts entered the medical professions (some in the pathology labs of hospitals), and my sister has her MD/PhD and is a pathologist. My mother and father were the first in their respective families to attend college.

I keep wondering what's next on the polls... do you wear glasses or corrective lenses of some sort; does your immediate family? I.e., what's the chances your genes would have made it through if their wasn't either some smart gene or some extra care taken in your background / upbringing... (For the record, I have a great picture of my mother, father, brother, sister and I in the eighties in which all of us have on those big-lensed eighties glasses -- though my mother has rather good vision and only needed slight correction for one eye).

 

[lisab]

My dad (the oldest of eight) and his next closest brother were both electrical engineers at Bell Labs. I don't think there are any scientist/engineering types on my mother's side (also one of eight) except through marriage... though she comes from an agricultural family, which certainly requires some mechanical aptitude, accounting skill, and understanding of nature. A fair number of aunts entered the medical professions (some in the pathology labs of hospitals), and my sister has her MD/PhD and is a pathologist. My mother and father were the first in their respective families to attend college.

I keep wondering what's next on the polls... do you wear glasses or corrective lenses of some sort; does your immediate family? I.e., what's the chances your genes would have made it through if their wasn't either some smart gene or some extra care taken in your background / upbringing... (For the record, I have a great picture of my mother, father, brother, sister and I in the eighties in which all of us have on those big-lensed eighties glasses -- though my mother has rather good vision and only needed slight correction for one eye).

Oooo, great idea for a poll topic: "What will be the next poll topic?"

 

[wild999711]

On my father's side my grandfather has a degree in forestry from UCB, and my Uncle has a Phd in Mech engineering from UCSB. Of the two my Uncle was the one who pushed me to study Physics.

On my mothers side the closest my family came to science or engineering is a muffler shop they own, and construction. My grandfather on my mother's side was great at fixing old cars, bikes, or engines in general. According to the family he could fix anything with "toothpicks and rubberbands".

 

[chiro]

My grandfather on my mother's side was great at fixing old cars, bikes, or engines in general. According to the family he could fix anything with "toothpicks and rubberbands".

Is your uncle by any chance Macgyver? ;)

 

[wild999711]

Is your uncle by any chance Macgyver? ;)

No but they loved that show.

 

[jobyts]

Me and my younger sister are engineers. My older sister is a doctor. All three of us have engineer spouses. All our engineer spouses have all their siblings engineers or doctors. All our engineer spouses' siblings' spouses are engineers or doctors.

This may sound like a funny trivia, but it's true. A total of 11 engineers and 4 doctors.

 

[Norman]

Interesting thread.

On my Mom's side of the family, I was the first person to go to college and graduate. All the men on my Mom's side of the family work in the paper mills around where I grew up.

My Dad has a BS in Ecology, but works for a paper mill as the R&D and Quality Assurance Manager. He says he is fairly bored with his job. Though every 5-10 years he gets to work on a new process for a new product. He was the first person on his side of the family to get a college degree also.

In all my family, I am the only person to get a postgraduate degree. I am the oldest in my generation of the family. Though, out of the 6 in my generation (first cousins) only one other has a Bachelors, my brother has an associates, and my youngest cousin in enrolled in college right now.

My father nudged me towards engineering. Fool that I was, I got a PhD in physics instead. In fact, I turned down a scholarship to play soccer because the school did not have a full physics program. I could have got a chem eng. or mech eng. degree, worked for a paper mill and probably made a lot more money, starting at a younger age. But, I would probably be bored out of my mind too...