Engines of Our Ingenuity
The Engines of Our Ingenuity is a radio program that tells the story of how culture is formed by human creativity. Written and hosted by Dr. John Lienhard, M.D. Anderson Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering and History at the University of Houston. Engines episodes are heard throughout the country on National Public Radio and produced by KUFH-FM Houston. More information about the program may be found online at: http://www.uh.edu/engines
These Digital Stories are attempts at adding a visual component to the audio-only versions of Engines episodes and are presented here with Dr. Lienhard's permission.
The Engines of Our Ingenuity is a radio program that tells the story of how culture is formed by human creativity. Written and hosted by Dr. John Lienhard, M.D. Anderson Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering and History at the University of Houston. Engines episodes are heard throughout the country on National Public Radio and produced by KUFH-FM Houston. More information about the program may be found online at: http://www.uh.edu/engines
These Digital Stories are attempts at adding a visual component to the audio-only versions of Engines episodes and are presented here with Dr. Lienhard's permission.
Camera Obscura
The history of development of the camera is explored in this digital story.
Chartres Cathedral
This is a video about the majestic Chartres Cathedral, its history and the stories etched in the walls and windows of the cathedral.
Fingerprints
This video talks about the history and uses of fingerprints as a means of identification.
Honnor your Dreams
Did you know that 90 percent of our dreams are a metaphor from our real lives? Learn how great people have been inspired by their dreams.
Intuition or Numbers?
Did you know statistics could be used to select players in a baseball team? Would you use your intuition or math to make important decisions?
Kitty Litter
Consider what a good cat litter should do from this video that discusses the indigenous kitty litter and how commercial kitty litter came into production
Macbeth
This video reminds us of how Shakespeare' Macbeth explores the dark forces of the human mind.
Medical Oath
Exploring the principle, meaning, moral and quality of the Hippocratic oath taken by doctors in the field of medicine.
MoonFall:1969
Where were you on the fateful day of man's first steps on the moon? This digital story examines this momentous event in 1969.
Tallest, Longest
This Engines of Our Ingenuity looks at structural details and the significance of skyscrapers, bridges and towers throughout the world.
The Crystal Palace
The detailed engineering architecture and art of the Crystal Palace are presented in this video.
The Medieval West
Compare the medieval age and the old west and learn each of their characteristics and what they contributed to human civilization.
Time and Efficiency
The paradox of how technology made our life easier and more efficient but did not necessarily improve our lives is presented in this video.
A Walk Uptown
The digital story showcases pictures that tell a story of the growth of New York in the 1990s through the eyes of an authors' walk from lower Manhattan to Central Park.
Music, Music, Music
Do you crave listening to music? Scientists have tried to understand and explain the relationship and importance of music and the human brain.
Amerigo Vespucci
Have you wondered why our continents are named after the Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci instead of the Italian navigator Christopher Columbus? Learn how and why "America" got its name from Amerigo Vespucci
Black & White
Watch slaves reshape Virginia with the African views and values of the slave population that gradually influenced the thoughts and lifestyle of the native white population.
Clocks
See what clocks have to tell us beside the time of day. The video presents the history of the first clocks that were invented using water and later modified into pure mechanical clocks that minimized the errors to more than half.
Commerce, Cannon Balls, and M&M's
Explore our vast traffic in small objects and the math that determines proper packaging of spherical and ellipsoidal objects using weight, volume and the arrangement
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Explore this episode to learn about the concept of invention as a three step process through the eyes of a preacher who worked towards education of racial harmony in US
Eiffel's Towers
Discover the two towers that Alexandre Gustave Eiffel built. The video showcases the two radically different aesthetics aims in the two towers that Eiffel designed and created
Frankenstein
Engines of Our Ingenuity
Guillotine
The use of guillotine as a primitive technology for quick and painless execution was only for the noble and not for the common people. Explore the darker side of technology by looking at the historical developments of the guillotine
Looking for Cleopatra
Engines of Our Ingenuity
Map the Moon
Engines of our Ingenuity
Money
This digital story focuses on money as an abstraction of goods and services.
Names of Machines
A. J. Meadows claims that the way we name our machines depends on their maturity -- that we don't settle in on a name until the machine has settled itself into our lives. Explore this video how different machines and their names were invented.
Pompeii
Explore the last days of Pompeii to uncover and ponder what really pushed Pompeii to destruction and its rediscovery later by the archeologists
Streamlining and Fashion
Thoughts on streamlining and fashion, high culture, and pop-culture.
The Milk of Human Kindness
Psychologist Robert Levine goes looking for the Good Samaritan or how kindly people react to strangers in need
Traffic Patterns
Engines of Our Ingenuity
Windmills
Engines of Our Ingenuity
