From Lowly Paper Clips to Towering Suspension Bridges

By Henry Petroski

Over the course of 150 columns for this magazine, the author has uncovered great engineering lessons all around, in places big and small.

This Article From Issue

November-December 2015

Volume 103, Number 6

Page 384

DOI: 10.1511/2015.117.384

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Twenty-five years ago Brian Hayes, then the editor in chief of American Scientist, invited me to write regularly about engineering for the magazine. My first effort appeared in the January– February 1991 issue, and I have published a column in each issue since. This current one is my 150th consecutive column—cumulatively about a half million words—which prompts me to reflect on what it is I have written about, and why.

Familiar objects that people encounter every day tend to fade into the background. But when considered closely, each one tells a rich story of engineering, design, and development.

Pocket Protector Webseum, Nikita Buida, Judith Collins, D. Hurst, Digifoto Bronze, studiomonde/Alamy Stock Photo

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