Successful engineering is all about understanding how things break or fail. — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
Typically, highway bridges have about 50 years. But over in England, they have iron bridges approaching 250 years. In France, there are… — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
I relax by looking at things and reading about things. Even the simplest thing can reveal a great deal about the world… — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
Failure is central to engineering. Every single calculation that an engineer makes is a failure calculation. Successful engineering is all about understanding… — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
A common misconception about how things such as space shuttles come to be is that engineers simply apply the theories and equations… — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
I'm a firm believer that no matter how small an object is, you can find interesting things out about it and its… — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
I have always been fascinated by the way things work and how they came to take the form that they did. Writing… — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
As long as there are things to wonder about, there are stories to be written about them. That makes me happy, because… — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
All conventional wisdom has an element of truth to it, but good design requires more than an element of truth - it requires an… — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
It is really want, rather than need, that drives the process of technological evolution. — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
A failed structure provides a counterexample to a hypothesis and shows us incontrovertibly what cannot be done, while a structure that stands without incident… — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
Everything we do is designed, whether we're producing a magazine, a website, or a bridge. Design is really the creative invention that designs everything. — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
I employ case studies of failure into my courses, emphasizing that they teach us much more than studies of success. It is not that… — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
Whether or not science can be applied to that mental construct [i.e. the designed entity] is a matter of availability. If there is body… — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
Failures are much more dramatic than successes, and people like drama. I think this is why automobile races draw such crowds. People expect spectacular… — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
The most amazing achievement of the computer software industry is its continuing cancellation of the steady and staggering gains made by the computer hardware… — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated by things large and small. I wanted to know what made my watch… — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
Successful engineering is all about understanding how things break or fail. — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
The space shuttle was designed, at least in part, to broaden our knowledge of the universe. To scientists, the vehicle was a tool; to… — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
Because they are so humbled by their creations, engineers are naturally conservative in their expectations of technology. They know that the perfect system is… — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
