Are you familiar with the difference between engineering and science?
One is theoretical the other applied. They are on a continuum. When
Archimedes designed his parabolic mirrors he was doing both geometry and
weapons building.
Engineers who design transistors are doing science of an applied sort.
When Bardeen (twice winner of the Nobel in physics)working along with
Schockley and Brattain were producing the first effective transistor,
Bardeen was doing engineering as much as physics.
Intellectual snots and snobs tend to exaggerate the distinction.
