Henry Petroski

Henry Petroski, the Aleksandar S.Vesic Professor of Civil Engineering and Professor of History at Duke University, will give the second annual Wouk Lecture, "Success through Failure: The Paradox of Design," at 4 p.m. Thursday, March 30 in Beckman Institute Auditorium. Petroski will explore the interplay between success and failure in the design of long-span suspension bridges. The historical record shows that success was achieved through the careful study of past failures, and that failure ultimately resulted when models were created with an increasing disregard for fundamental caveats. [Caltech News]