The Industrial Revolution, spanning the late 18th and 19th centuries, marked a seismic shift in human history. This period of rapid technological advancement, urbanization, and industrialization brought with it both opportunities and unprecedented challenges. As societies grappled with the complexity of large-scale infrastructure projects, mechanized production, and financial markets, the quantification of risk became an essential tool for decision-making. This essay explores how the Industrial Revolution catalyzed the integration of probability, statistics, and engineering into risk assessment, laying the groundwork for modern practices in safety, reliability, and financial risk management.
Continue reading