Publications [#268063] of Henry Petroski

Papers Published

1. Petroski, H, Engineering in the abstract, American Scientist, vol. 101 no. 1 (January, 2013), pp. 22-26, Sigma Xi, ISSN 0003-0996 [Gateway.cgi], [doi]
   (last updated on 2023/06/01)

   Abstract:
   After the death of his older brother in a boating accident, Dawson produced paintings showing night-sky effects, which may have reflected his dark mood at the time. In the same year that Dawson began his engineering studies, he also began to paint differently. According to the Penn State art historian Randy Ploog, an expert on the engineer- painter Dawson, his work showed a change in emphasis, away from illusionistic imitation of observed landscapes toward creating inventive compositional arrangements. The civil engineering curriculum then and now are not so coincident, however. At Armour Tech in 1905, Dawson began to follow, but apparently not with great enthusiasm, a curriculum that included courses in graphics, topographical surveying, railroad location, topographical drawing and stereotomy, which could be defined as the art of cutting three-dimensional solids into particular shapes.