That's a clever phrase. Too bad it's completely false.

How is it false? An engineers job is to solve problems. Scientists observe the world and the problems it presents.

I think I -blam!-ed it up. What I should have said was Scientists observe problems. Engineers solve the problems.

Scientists and engineers both solve problems. Particle physicist Leon Lederman discovered why a certain type of radiation is not observed involving muons (a heavier cousin of the electron) several decades ago. Theorist Albert Einstein explained why small particles move in water via Brownian motion. He also posed the special and general theories of relativity, both of which transformed the entire field of physics forever. Your assertion that scientists only "pose" or "observe" problems whereas engineers actually solve them is patently false. Both scientists and engineers pose and solve problems.

In your examples it seems like the scientists were observing problems and forming theories about them. In other words they observed and explained why something happens but they didn't actually do anything with it. Engineers take that information then create and design contraptions to better humanity.

"In your examples it seems like the scientists were observing problems and forming theories about them. In other words they observed and explained why something happens but they didn't actually do anything with it." You said that scientists posed the problem and that engineers solved it. Every example I used shows a non-engineer posing the solution to a scientific problem. In terms of scientists "not doing anything with it," that has nothing to do with the point you made. Scientists and engineers are equally important facets of scientific advancement. Both groups pose and solve problems. To believe otherwise is exceptionally stupid.