Criteria Quote by Henry Petroski

“I emphasize that virtually every engineering calculation is ultimately a failure calculation, because without a failure criterion against which to measure the calculated result, it is a meaningless number.”

Henry Petroski

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Criteria Engineering Failure Meaningless Numbers Results

More by Henry Petroski

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

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It is really want, rather than need, that drives the process of technological evolution.

Henry Petroski

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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

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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.

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I employ case studies of failure into my courses, emphasizing that they teach us much more than studies of success. It is not that…

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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

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Failures are much more dramatic than successes, and people like drama. I think this is why automobile races draw such crowds. People expect spectacular…

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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

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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

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Successful engineering is all about understanding how things break or fail.

Henry Petroski

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The space shuttle was designed, at least in part, to broaden our knowledge of the universe. To scientists, the vehicle was a tool; to…

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Because they are so humbled by their creations, engineers are naturally conservative in their expectations of technology. They know that the perfect system is…

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Explore all 67 Henry Petroski quotes

More Criteria quotes

The major caveat in all of comedy is that it's all instinctive. There's no true criteria. There is no right or wrong. Ultimately, often…

Larry Charles

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Every man will have his own criterion in forming his judgment of others. I depend very much on the effect of affliction. I consider…

Richard Cecil

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First of all the criteria that I have that goes into any career decision is whether or not I have the life experience, emotional…

Nicolas Cage

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The criterion of true beauty is, that it increases in examination; of false, that it lessens. There is something, therefore, in true beauty that…

George Grenville

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“[ When a religious couple wrote to Sagan about fulfilled prophecies, he wrote back in May 1996 :] If ‘fulfilled prophecy’ is your criterion,…

Carl Sagan

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As for the (Ballon d'Or) criteria, I'm not really sure how it works. Sometimes it's a World Cup year, sometimes it isn't. Let them…

David Villa

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As the number of unexplained, irreducibly complex biological systems increases, our confidence that Darwin's criterion of failure has been met skyrockets toward the maximum…

Michael Behe