Engines of Our Ingenuity

Episode: 1490 Germs, John Snow, and the Broad Street Well.  Today, we talk about germs.

Episode: 1489 Inventing the helicopter: harder than it looked.  Today, we invent the helicopter.

Episode: 1488 John, Washington, & Emily Roebling, and the Brooklyn Bridge.  Today, a family gives us the Brooklyn Bridge.

Episode: 1492 Necessity and invention during the 1870 siege of Paris.  Today, necessity, invention, and the Siege of Paris.

Episode: 1487 Teaching the American public to use the telephone.  Today, would you buy the first telephone?

Episode: 2545 Game Maker Milton Bradley.  Today, a game maker.

Episode: 2617 Facebook, social networking website, or new medium?  Today, Facebooking.

Episode: 2829 Cesare Lombroso and his Museum.  Today, a head in a jar.

Episode: 1485 Ship of gold in the Deep Blue Sea: an impossible treasure recovery.  Today, we hunt treasure.

Episode: 1484 Georg Cantor, the man who counted beyond infinity.  Today, we wonder about counting to infinity.

Episode: 1483 In which J. Willard Gibbs pictures gear teeth.  Today, a glimpse into the mind of J. Willard Gibbs.

Episode: 1481 A revealing view of photography's early days.  Today, where was photography headed in 1854?

Episode: 2542 Hippodamus of Miletus and Urban Design.  Today, a grid for the ages.

Episode: 3346 In which Mary Proctor uses myth to help children understand reality.  Today, astronomy for children.

Episode: 3345 In which I learn that an old book is not about tachometry but tacheometry instead.  Today, a set of misunderstandings.

Episode: 3342 Bernardo Zamagna designs a lighter-than-air ship that physics could not quite support.  Today, let us fly with Bernardo Zamagna.

Episode: 1480 Streamlining and the American public.  Today, we talk about streamlining.

Episode: 1479 The riddle of more grandparents than people.  Today, you and I are kin.

Episode: 1478 A sneak preview of the Statue of Liberty.  Today, a sneak preview of the Statue of Liberty.

Episode: 2538 Engineering Cheese Through the Millenia.  Today, say "cheese."

Episode: 3343  Frank Rosenblatt's perceptron and the quest to design machines that can learn.  Today, the origin of learning in artificial neural networks.

Episode: 3344 That Rare Find, Rachel Ruysch.  Today, we talk diversity in art and nature.

Episode: 1477 A horseless carriage offered to Anne Boleyn.  Today, we offer Anne Boleyn an automobile.

Episode: 1476 In which Josephine Cochrane invents the dishwasher.  Today, the birth of the dishwasher.

Episode: 1475 The tragic tale of Evariste Galois.  Today, let's tell the remarkable tale of Evariste Galois.

Episode: 1474 Alfred Ely Beach builds a secret subway in New York City.  Today, a secret subway.

Episode: 2535 The base of a number system: times tables and memorization.  Today, go forth and multiply.

Episode: 3341 How Warren McCulloch and Walter Pitts laid the foundation for current AI research.  Today, the origin of artificial neural networks.

Episode: 3340 We look at the curious mechanics behind scissors.  Today, let's look at scissors.

Episode: 1473 Two unsinkable ships: the Titanic and the Great Eastern.  Today, a story of two ships. One sank. One didn't.

Episode: 1472 New uses for huge numbers.  Today, big numbers find new meaning.

Episode: 1471 Some thoughts about immigrants, depression, suicide & Jamestown.  Today, a story about Jamestown and self-destruction.

Episode: 1470 Occam's razor and engineering design.  Today, we cut with Occam's razor.

Episode: 2533 On Table Legs and Flat Surfaces.  Today, the power of three.

Episode: 2763 The legacy of Steve Jobs, who simplified computers and computing devices.  Today, the man who made it simple.

Episode: 3339 Cradling the Body: The Eames Lounge Chair, Leg Splint, and Good Design.  The Eames Lounge Chair and Leg Splint

Episode: 3338 An old Century Magazine tries to predict future warfare.  Today, we predict warcraft.

Episode: 1469 The hourglass: the poor man's clock, the poor man's metaphor.  Today, let's look at the hourglass.

Episode: 1468 The evolution of the bicycle.  Today, let's talk about bicycles and freedom.

Episode: 2529 Comparing Fingerprints: What's Involved and What can go Wrong.  Today, who dunnit?

Episode: 3337  Claude Bernard's important medical science, horrifically achieved.  Today, let's meet a problematic scientist.

Episode: 2018 The Chamberlen family secret: the invention of forceps.  Today, guest historian Cathy Patterson reveals family secrets.