Yeah, how many designers and inventors of industrial processes, or materials, or techniques or such we know widely in the west?
Never mind that even for those well known to us engineers, regular people couldn't name what they did either, except maybe Edisson, Tesla, Wright Brothers, and a few more. E.g. would even more modern PhD holders know what Watt contributed? Or Lord Kelvin?
People like Gates, Bezos, Musk, and Jobs on the other hand, everybody knows.
Yes, the engineer CEOs like Gates, Musk and Jensen Huang certainly become very well known. Not so much for their engineering prowess (though it is typically great) but for being the symbol of the products they create.
Never mind that even for those well known to us engineers, regular people couldn't name what they did either, except maybe Edisson, Tesla, Wright Brothers, and a few more. E.g. would even more modern PhD holders know what Watt contributed? Or Lord Kelvin?
People like Gates, Bezos, Musk, and Jobs on the other hand, everybody knows.