Engines of Our Ingenuity
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Engines of Our Ingenuity
The story of technological progress is one of drama and intrigue, sudden insight and plain hard work. Let’s explore technology’s spectacular failures and many magnificent success stories. This content is in service of Houston Public Media’s education mission and is sponsored by th...
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The Engines of Our Ingenuity 2623: Thomas Carlyle’s Past and Present
Episode: 2623 Thomas Carlyle and the Working of Free Markets. Today, economic salvation.
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 3393: Curtiss Robin
Episode: 3393 In which the 1928 Curtiss Robin airplane was far more than it seemed to be. Today, a ride in a bland airplane.
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 3392: Orientalism
Episode: 3392 The Rise of Orientalism and its crescendo in the Roaring ‘20s. Today, strange happenings in the 1920s.
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 3391: Project Mohole
Episode: 3391 In which Project Mohole looks inside Earth while Sputnik reaches outside. Today, Inner Space versus Outer Space.
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1608: Members in Tension
Episode: 1608 Three scale models of structures, with vastly different weights. Today, we design for tension.
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1607: Fire Control
Episode: 1607 Continuous-aim firing: a diagnosis of an ill-received idea. Today, we aim a gun from a rocking platform.
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1606: The Skycity
Episode: 1606 The Skycity: a concept struggling against its own Gothic weight. Today, the skycity.
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 2622: Watson
Episode: 2622 Watson: A computer system that plays Jeopardy!. Today, Jeopardy!.
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 3390: Big Thicket Preserve
Episode: 3390 Geraldine Watson & The Big Thicket National Preserve. Today, Geraldine Watson & The Big Thicket National Preserve.
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 3389: Carlo Antonio Testore
Episode: 3389 In which Carlo Antonio Testore’s violins and other stringed instruments show him to be a different kind of Luthier. Today, a luthier t...
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 3388: Omar Khayyam
Episode: 3388 Let us see how much Omar Khayyam accomplished, beyond his having inspired poet Edward FitzGerald. Today, Omar Khayyam.
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1605: The Rush to Height
Episode: 1605 The brief race to build very tall buildings: 1885 to 1931. Today, the brief day of the first skyscrapers.
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1604: Hydrogen
Episode: 1604 In which hydrogen balloons bind science to technology. Today, hydrogen -- in 1783.
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1603: Old Galileo
Episode: 1603 Galileo: An old man grieves his daughter and writes his last book. Today, an old man writes his most important book.
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 2618: Søren Kierkegaard
Episode: 2618 Søren Kierkegaard: Christian Existentialist. Today, an exit.
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 3112: Creative Editor
Episode: 3112 Donald Barthelme: Creative Editor. Today, a sheriff of an editor.
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1660: Simple Gifts
Episode: 1660 Simplicity, complexity, and Shakespeare. Today, Seattle Actor Megan Cole is here to talk about complexity, simplicity, and Shakespeare.
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1602: The Tragedy of the Commons
Episode: 1602 The tragedy of the commons revisited. Today, the tragedy of the commons.
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1601: Dirt
Episode: 1601 Mother dirt. Today, let's play in the dirt.
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1600: Adams’s Education
Episode: 1600 Henry Adams ponders the Virgin and the Dynamo. science, medieval architecture, Langley, 1900 Paris exhibition, Chartres cathedral.
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1599: Urban Archaeology
Episode: 1599 Urban archaeology: a privy provides a window to the past. Today, history in a trash bin.
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 2614: Pixels
Episode: 2614 Engineering Pictures Made of Pixels. Today, painting with pixels.
The Engines of Our Ingenuity #3387: Burington’s Handbook
Episode: 3387 In which an old handbook keeps teaching me for almost eight decades years. Today, an old book keeps informing me.
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 3386: Fourth Dimension
Episode: 3386 In which the search for visualizing four dimensions leads, ultimately, to mathematics. Today, the missing dimensions.
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1598: Surface Tension
Episode: 1598 Surface Tension: a tiny force, but omnipresent.Today, we look at the edge of a water droplet.
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1597: Ottoman Telegraph
Episode: 1597 The Ottoman Empire telegraph, linking Europe and Asia. Today, the telegraph connects Europe and Asia.
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1596: The First Automobile?
Episode: 1596 Looking for the "first" automobile. Today, let's try to find the first automobile.
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 2611: Kepler’s Somnium
Episode: 2611 Early science fiction: Kepler's Somnium. Today, a dream.
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 3264: Hockney’s iPad Impressionism
Episode: 3264 David Hockney, Digital Painting, and Art's Technophobia. Today, painting with pixels, in the hands of a master.
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 3385: Blohm & Voss BV141
Episode: 3385 The weird Blohm & Voss BV141 airplane, and reflections on asymmetry. Today, a weird aeroplane.
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 3384: Alien Life Forms
Episode: 3384 Further thoughts about the search for extra-terrestrial life. Today, Alien life forms.
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1595: Alfred Stieglitz
Episode: 1595 In which Alfred Stieglitz and 291 anticipate Modern. Today, Stieglitz and photography, art and reality.
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1594: The Mad Scientist
Episode: 1594 The Mad Scientist -- he keeps coming back. Today, the mad scientist.
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1593: LST-325
Episode: 1593 The LST-325: Thirty old men and an old ship become young again. Today, the LST-325.
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 2608: Maria Telkes
Episode: 2608 Maria Telkes: Solar Energy Pioneer. Today, here comes the sun.
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 3383: Mr. Herschel’s Millstone
Episode: 3383 Mr. Herschel’s Milky Way “millstone”. Today, an early Milky Way model.
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 3382: Disorder
Episode: 3382 Thoughts about coping with the disorder in our lives and the disorder in our world. Today, disorder.
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 3381: Shuttle-Carrier N905NA
Episode: 3381 The last ride of NASA’s Shuttle carrier, N905NA. Today, the last Shuttle-carrier.
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1592: Specialized Language
Episode: 1592 In which we use fancy words instead of simple ones. Today, the quotidian denominator.
The Engines of Our Ingenuity 1591: Completed Technologies
Episode: 1591 Baroque violins and the notion of a completed technology. Today, let's talk about complete technologies.