Automobile wins runner-up honors

We dissent, but the ballots are in and counted. The automobile ranks a mere second on the 20 Greatest Engineering Achievements of the Century, second to electrification. Nominations from 20 professional engineering societies were selected and ranked by a distinguished panel of the nation's top engineers and announced by astronaut/engineer Neil Armstrong during National Engineers Week last month. We take nothing away from the merits of those, in all technological fields, who have forged the future in a tireless pursuit of universal truths. Our real qualm lies in the fact that one key engineering advent was missed entirely - the moveable type printing press and ensuing printing technologies. The top five are: electrification, the automobile, the airplane, safe and abundant water and electronics.