Innovation
Mr. Eiffel Built More Than a Tower
Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel, the engineer who designed the Eiffel Tower, reportedly said “I ought to be jealous of the tower. It is more famous than I am.” It’s probably true. Eiffel was a world-famous engineer before he made the tower that bears his name, but not for the kind of things that make a man a…
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Brunelleschi’s Dome
The architecture book is done. While I was working on it, I wouldn’t have said it was fun. (My Own True Love will corroborate this.) I put in a lot of late nights. I struggled to find a simple way to describe how an arch works.* But along the way I re-read some old favorites,…
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Florence Nightingale Does the Math*
Florence Nightingale is best known for her heroic efforts in the Crimean War,** where she threw open windows, scrubbed filthy floors and equally filthy men,*** bullied doctors and officers on the spot, fought with the British Army’s military director, and saved lives. She returned home a heroine. Victorian Britain loved to celebrate a celebrity. Nightingale…
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