6/15/2023
Henry Petroski (MS TAM 64, PhD TAM 68) died June 14, 2023.
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Henry Petroski (MS TAM 64, PhD TAM 68), called “America’s poet laureate of technology” for his prolific writing career, died June 14, 2023, at age 81. He was a longtime civil and environmental engineering professor at Duke University.
In addition to a career in structural engineering research and teaching, throughout his life Petroski wrote 20 general interest books and countless general-interest articles and essays for magazines and newspapers, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and the Wall Street Journal. He also wrote regular columns for the magazines American Scientist and ASEE Prism.
Petroski’s engineering career included teaching at the University of Texas at Austin beginning after his graduation from UIUC in 1968 until 1974; a stint at Argonne National Laboratory as a leader of its research and development efforts in fracture mechanics; and many years on the civil and environmental engineering faculty at Duke University beginning in 1980.
Petroski’s books include “To Engineer is Human,” “The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance,” “The Evolution of Useful Things,” and “Force: What It Means to Push and Pull, Slip and Grip, Start and Stop.”
His full obituary is available online.