Unlike all the other men in my family (and most of my friends) I am not an electrical engineer by training. I’ve spent my life around electrical engineering, and although I’ve known about the historical details of the invention of the transistor since I was a wee lad, I can’t claim to have understood how the first transistor worked until I saw Bill Hammack’s video for this week. So, thanks for that, Bill, on a personal level.
Bill Hammack’s video confection is especially sweet this week. Bill scored a vintage Delta “black box” on eBay and, in this week’s installment, tears it apart on camera to show you how they built ’em in the old days to stand up to “three-thousand gees and one-thousand degrees.” I just watched it, and I’m having a hard time resisting my ebullient urge to spoil the ending for you, so I’ll just shut up and let Engineer Guy take it away. [Thanks, Bill!]
If you’ve been around long enough to have ever actually blown out your flip-flop, stepped on a pop top, you’ve already got one great reason to appreciate the 1975 introduction of the stay-on tab or stay tab: No more little metal razors littering the beaches.
Now, “Engineer Guy” Bill Hammack helps us appreciate the stay tab for another reason: It’s a little gem of mechanical poetry. There’s a lot going on when you pull that little ring. Bill’s video exegesis of that action, like all Bill’s videos, is a little piece of poetry unto itself. I can’t get enough of ’em. [Thanks, Bill!]
Bill Hammack is one part Mr. Wizard and one part James Burke. He’s a professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and his alter ego Engineer Guy has made over 300 public radio spots emphasizing the creative aspects of science and engineering. In this three minute video, Bill tears apart a photocopier and explains, with great wit and wisdom, how it works. Ten more videos are available at his site. I especially like the one about tantalum. [via Boing Boing]
On Mashable, math teacher Rebecca Zook weighs in on the whole Computer Engineer Barbie (aka Coder Barbie) “controversy” with “Why Computer Engineer Barbie Is Good for Women in Tech.” While some have embraced Coder Barbie, others have attacked the concept, saying that her pink laptop, sparkly leggings, and trendy glasses are “too feminine” to be […]
Cross Stitch Ninja, an author on the amazing (and delightfully revolutionary) blogradicalcrossstitch.com is learning textile engineering. How cool is that?!?! The owl fabric that she recently created is mind blowing. I can hardly set an alarm clock, let alone program a loom to weave a pattern based on a vintage cross-stitch! Well done.
The 18th of February has been designated as Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day, an offshoot of National Engineers Week. A few days ago we asked Dr. AnnMarie Thomas, a professor of engineering at the University of St. Thomas, to share her thoughts on the occasion. If you haven’t read her guest editorial, please do […]
