Libya Elects Engineer To Acting Prime Minister Post 188
PolygamousRanchKid writes in with this quote from CNN: "Libya's transitional government picked an engineering professor and longtime exile as its acting prime minister Monday, with the new leader pledging to respect human rights and international law. The National Transitional Council elected Abdurrahim El-Keib, an electrical engineer who has held teaching posts at the University of Alabama and Abu Dhabi's Petroleum Institute, to the post with the support of 26 of the 51 members who voted. ... El-Keib emerged victorious from a field that initially included 10 candidates. ... He is currently listed as 'former faculty' on the website of The Petroleum Institute, which said he served as chairman of its electrical engineering department and lists him as an expert in power system economics, planning and controls."
PRK adds: "Has there ever been an engineer in the top spot? ... Is this a good idea? Or are techies doomed in politics?"
Last premier of China (Score:5, Informative)
Iran is led by an engineer.... (Score:2, Informative)
Ahmadinejad (Iran) is a civil engineer and has a PhD.... Doesn't keep him from spouting nonsense.
Re:Which "The Top Spot"? (Score:2, Informative)
No he was not. http://atomicinsights.com/2006/01/picking-on-the-jimmy-carter-myth.html
I can think of one (Score:5, Informative)
https://engineering.purdue.edu/Engr/AboutUs/News/Announcements/egyptian-prime-minister-earned-two-engineering-degrees-at-purdue [purdue.edu]
Go Boilers!
Tukmenbashi was an electrical engineer. (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Which "The Top Spot"? (Score:4, Informative)
On December 12, 1952, an accident with the experimental NRX reactor at Atomic Energy of Canada’s Chalk River Laboratories caused a partial meltdown. The resulting explosion caused millions of liters of radioactive water to flood the reactor building’s basement, and the reactor’s core was no longer usable.[16] Carter was now ordered to Chalk River, joining other Canadian and American service personnel. He was the officer in charge of the U.S. team assisting in the shutdown of the Chalk River Nuclear Reactor.[17]
So yeah, I would say overseeing a nuclear reactor shutdown/cleanup (including being lowered in personally to work on the reactor) qualifies him for, if not "nuclear engineer", at least "knows a lot about nuclear power." Which is just about "nuclear engineer", considering what most politicians/presidents know about the issue.
Re:Engineer in top spot? (Score:4, Informative)
Engineers of Jihad [ox.ac.uk]
Most common professions for politicians (Score:5, Informative)
Almost 20% of the politicians had a Law background while about 7% had an Engineering background.