The Engines of Our Ingenuity

The Engines of Our Ingenuity The Engines of Our Ingenuity is a national radio program that tells the story of how our culture is

The Engines of Our Ingenuity is a radio program that tells the story of how our culture is formed by human creativity. Written and hosted by John Lienhard and other contributors, it is heard nationally on Public Radio and produced by Houston Public Media. This program has a 25 year legacy that keeps entertaining the mind.

"As early as 1775, a London physician found a huge incidence of scrotal cancer among young chimney sweeps. They'd been w...
10/20/2025

"As early as 1775, a London physician found a huge incidence of scrotal cancer among young chimney sweeps. They'd been working naked because that made it easier to get through a narrow chimney. Carcinogenic coal dust worked into parts of the body where it could linger."

Today, we flip six heads in a row. The University of Houston's College of Engineering presents this series about the machines that make our civilization run, and the people whose ingenuity created them.

" I wish I could see how to go about teaching cutting-edge technologies to students who can look at that MGM lion withou...
10/19/2025

" I wish I could see how to go about teaching cutting-edge technologies to students who can look at that MGM lion without feeling either fear or excitement."

Today, a thought about technological change and learning. The University of Houston's College of Engineering presents this series about the machines that make our civilization run, and the people whose ingenuity created them. Let me try an idea on you. It's about learning, but I'll begin with a reco...

"And did the Countenance DivineShine forth upon our clouded hills?And was Jerusalem builded hereAmong these dark Satanic...
10/18/2025

"And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark Satanic mills?"
-William Blake

Today, an old iron works hidden in the tall grass. The University of Houston's College of Engineering presents this series about the machines that make our civilization run, and the people whose ingenuity created them. I turn into a rural New Hampshire road. A driver on his way out says, "You can't....

"In a few years, his son's new telegraph would give us instant communication with remote Astoria and Drake's Bay. A few ...
10/17/2025

"In a few years, his son's new telegraph would give us instant communication with remote Astoria and Drake's Bay. A few generations later, we find ourselves reading the dream that was manifest in Morse's sprawling geography, in airline schedules."

Today, Jedidiah Morse's geography. The University of Houston's College of Engineering presents this series about the machines that make our civilization run, and the people whose ingenuity created them. We've said a lot about Samuel F. B. Morse and his telegraph. Morse was born in 1791 near Boston.....

"Paris continues to evolve along with the ambitions of urban planners. But with every walk down a Parisian street, or st...
10/16/2025

"Paris continues to evolve along with the ambitions of urban planners. But with every walk down a Parisian street, or stroll through a Parisian park, Haussmann's imprint remains clearly on display."

by Andrew Boyd Today, a city redone. The University of Houston's College of Engineering presents this series about the machines that make our civilization run, and the people whose ingenuity created them. Paris is a glorious city. From grand boulevards to sidewalk cafés to prim parks, it's a city t...

"That soft pile of fibers you’re removing once played an important role in medicine and on the battlefield where it may ...
10/15/2025

"That soft pile of fibers you’re removing once played an important role in medicine and on the battlefield where it may have saved lives."

Today highlighting a former fabric byproduct.The University of Houston’s College of Engineering presents this series about the machines that make our civilization run, and the people whose ingenuity created them.______________________

"Even today, we approach the dusty cases and stare timidly, yet eagerly at these human artifacts. Across the centuries, ...
10/14/2025

"Even today, we approach the dusty cases and stare timidly, yet eagerly at these human artifacts. Across the centuries, they convey a dreadful intimacy: the intimacy of the very moment of death. "

by Richard Armstrong Today, the Pompeian paradox. The Honors College at the University of Houston presents this program about the machines that make our civilization run, and the people whose ingenuity created them.

"We have to be moved by Hale's unmatched vision, nerve, and determination. Just think: over a 56-year period, from the a...
10/14/2025

"We have to be moved by Hale's unmatched vision, nerve, and determination. Just think: over a 56-year period, from the age of 24 until ten years after his death, George Ellery Hale gave us the world's largest telescope not once, but four times."

Today, we look through some really big telescopes. The University of Houston's College of Engineering presents this series about the machines that make our civilization run, and the people whose ingenuity created them.

"What can you think up that makes perfect sense but which no one would ever use?"
10/14/2025

"What can you think up that makes perfect sense but which no one would ever use?"

Today, the odd Japanese art of Chindogu. The University of Houston's College of Engineering presents this series about the machines that make our civilization run, and the people whose ingenuity created them.

"Today, I still know Henry Ford's hard face, but I have no lingering sense of this garrulous people-loving person. When ...
09/13/2025

"Today, I still know Henry Ford's hard face, but I have no lingering sense of this garrulous people-loving person. When I hear the word Chrysler I see, not a face, nor a particular automobile design. I see the glitzy building that still says Big Apple to me. And I catch a lingering glint of flashy chromium."

Today, an odd glimpse of the texture of fame. The University of Houston's College of Engineering presents this series about the machines that make our civilization run, and the people whose ingenuity created them.

"Old wreckage lines New York's waterfront: tangled metal of piers destroyed by fire, an abandoned dry dock, remains of a...
09/12/2025

"Old wreckage lines New York's waterfront: tangled metal of piers destroyed by fire, an abandoned dry dock, remains of an old barge terminal. It's a Mad Hatter's tea party of a place -- elements left behind as they're replaced with something better. In the end, we see that we aren't really part of a place until we know these secret places. For each is a mystic nexus -- a place where the seam between present and history, for a moment, becomes visible to us."

Today, we look for the secret places that complete a city. The University of Houston's College of Engineering presents this series about the machines that make our civilization run, and the people whose ingenuity created them. Years ago I read something that stayed with me. It was about Brasilia, th...

"Moreover, … there are certain machines [whose] invention must almost of necessity be due to a single man. Is not that m...
09/11/2025

"Moreover, … there are certain machines [whose] invention must almost of necessity be due to a single man. Is not that man of genius, whose name is shrouded in oblivion, well worthy of being placed beside the small number of creative minds who have opened new routes for us in the sciences?"

by Andrew Boyd Today, celebrating the mechanical arts. The University of Houston's College of Engineering presents this series about the machines that make our civilization run, and the people whose ingenuity created them.

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