Today in History – January 5, 1892 – Construction began on the Golden Gate Bridge. After years of gathering support and funding for the bridge, Joseph Strauss oversaw its construction. The project was so massive that a Golden Gate District was formed to build the bridge. All in all the bridge ended up costing about 27 million dollars. One of the most innovative parts of the bridge’s construction was Strauss insistence on safety. Workers wore protective headgear, glare-free goggles, and even a special lotion that helped protect against the harsh winds. There was also a large net that was placed beneath the workers. When construction was completed in 1937 the net had saved nineteen lives. At the time of completion the bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world. And today it is still as iconic as it was 101 years ago.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s resources on bridges. For related educational resources, visit the Civil Engineering Education or Construction Engineering Education disciplinary communities.

Also today in 1892, the first photograph of the Aurora Borealis was taken.

Today in History – August 17, 1807- Robert Fulton’s North River Steam Boat, called the Clermont, began its first voyage up New York’s Hudson River to complete a successful round-trip from New York City to Albany, traveling 150 miles in 32 hours.

Although Robert Fulton did not invent the steamboat, he is credited with making it a commercial success. Robert Fulton was born in Little Britain township (now Fulton), Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1765 and died in New York, 24 February 1815. His father came from Kilkenny, Ireland, and immigrated to the United States early in the 18th century. Robert Fulton was a motivated artist and tinkerer. He was constructing paddlewheels at the age of thirteen, which he successfully applied to a fishing boat. He also supported himself through painting miniature portraits and landscapes, as well as mechanical and architectural drawing. He traveled to London to study under Benjamin West to improve his artistic skills and also visited artists in Paris. But he was drawn further into experiments in mechanics and engines. In 1798 Fulton worked on a project for the improvement of canal navigation and obtained a British patent for a double inclined plane for raising or lowering boats from one level to another on a system of small canals.

Fulton returned to the U.S. and completed the boat that was to navigate the Hudson in Spring of 1807. The Clermont’s steam-power trip up the Hudson to Albany was subject to much jealousy and rivalry, depriving him from most of the profits from his innovation. Yet few challenge his claim to have been the major influence behind the rapid multiplication and commercial success of steamboats in the U.S. and elsewhere. Robert Fulton is also well known for his role in a number of other innovations, including the submarine.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s resources on Robert Fulton, steam engines and thermodynamics. For related educational resources, visit the Mechanical Engineering Education disciplinary community.

Today in History – August 15, 1914 – First ship through the Panama Canal. Ever since Europeans discovered the new world, sailors dreamed of linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans across the Isthmus of Panama, a narrow neck of land connecting North and South America in what is now the country of Panama. The construction of the Panama Canal meant that ships no longer needed to take the long and arduous route around the tip of South America and could shorten that voyage by weeks and thousands of miles.

The United States built the original canal at a cost of about $380 million, employing thousands of laborers over 10 years. Using steam shovels and dredges they cut through jungles, hills and swamps, removed 211 million cubic yards of earth and rock and workers suffered from malaria and yellow fever.

The United States controlled the Panama Canal Zone from 1903-1999. Now owned by Panama, the Canal operates as an international enterprise in character. For example, the Panama Canal is the one place in the world where a Captain must surrender command of his or her ship to go through the canal.

The Panama Canal is an amazing feat of engineering and is sometimes called the Eighth Wonder of the World. The canal operates as a ship elevator using three sets of water-filled chambers (locks) to raise and lower ships from one level to another. The ships must move between sea level (the Pacific or the Atlantic) to the level of Gatun Lake in Panama (26 meters above sea level) and then sail the channel through the Continental Divide. Per command of the canal authority, ships move through the locks slowly. Since the clearance between the ship and lock walls are very small, ships are tethered-pulled and controlled by locomotives on the port (below left) and starboard (below right) sides of the ship in a highly synchronized manner (below center, video clip).

For nearly a century, the Panama Canal has accommodated a wide range of ship types and sizes and is reported to handle nearly 5% of global trade. In the same period, ship design and design-objectives have also gone through major evolution: thousands of deadweight tons (DWT) vessels have grown to hundreds of thousands of DWT giants. In recent times, ships have been designed with a beam (width) restriction of “Panamax” (that is, it cannot exceed the maximum width of the canal locks). Now larger container ships cannot pass through and in July 2006 Panama voted to widen its Canal. This large-scale expansion project will have many challenges and will definitely be a feat of Extreme Engineering.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s educational resources on the Panama Canal and extreme engineering. For related curricula, visit the Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering Education, Ocean Engineering Education, Civil Engineering Education and Construction Engineering Education disciplinary communities.

Today in History – July 27, 2010 – Plastic bottle catamaran named “Plastiki” completes epic pacific crossing. A crew of experts, scientists, and creatives, led by visionary explorer David de Rothschild,  sailed over 12,000 nautical miles across the Pacific Ocean from San Francisco to Sydney in a boat made out of plastic bottles and recycled waste products. The name “Plastiki” was inspired by Thor Heyerdal’s 1947 epic expedition the Kontiki.

The purpose of this bold adventure was to draw attention to our carbon footprint with a focus on those ubiquitous PEP water bottles and the Pacific Garbage Patch.  The catamaran design was a pioneering example of sustainable design.

The team aims to captivate and inspire, as well as to motivate tomorrow’s environmental thinkers and doers to take positive action for the planet and be smart with waste. Ultimately, they hope to inspire people to rethink waste as a valuable resource. One person’s waste could be another person’s treasure.”

When teaching a course for engineering faculty in India, I used the problems of PET water bottles as the week-long class project. Usually made of PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate), ~25g per bottle, these plastics use:

• 6.45 kg oil/ kg PET
• 294.2 kg water/ kg PET
• 3.723 kg Green House Gases/ kg PET
• and that’s not even including transportation!

You are welcome to use my slides. This problem is ubiquitous, and the solutions will be geographically and culturally depend. Makes a great project for human-centered sustainable design. Also allows for some creative designs that address the triple bottom line of planet, people and profit. My favorite case study is the formation and expansion of the TerraCycle company.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s resources on Plastiki and  water bottles.  Or take a virtual tour of the Plastiki and learn how this boat survived the mighty ocean. Click on “hot spots” for more details on the catamaran design. For related educational resources, visit the Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering Education and Ocean Engineering Education disciplinary communities.

Also on this date on July 27, 1866, the First transatlantic cable was completed.

Today in History – July 12, 1920 – Official opening of the Panama Canal by Woodrow Wilson; although used since August 15, 1914.  Ever since Europeans discovered the new world, sailors dreamed of linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans across the Isthmus of Panama, a narrow neck of land connecting North and South America in what is now the country of Panama. The construction of the Panama Canal meant that ships no longer needed to take the long and arduous route around the tip of South America and could shorten that voyage by weeks and thousands of miles.

The United States built the original canal at a cost of about $380 million, employing thousands of laborers over 10 years. Using steam shovels and dredges they cut through jungles, hills and swamps, removed 211 million cubic yards of earth and rock and workers suffered from malaria and yellow fever.

The United States controlled the Panama Canal Zone from 1903-1999. Now owned by Panama, the Canal operates as an international enterprise in character. For example, the Panama Canal is the one place in the world where a Captain must surrender command of his or her ship to go through the canal.

The Panama Canal is an amazing feat of engineering and is sometimes called the Eighth Wonder of the World. The canal operates as a ship elevator using three sets of water-filled chambers (locks) to raise and lower ships from one level to another. The ships must move between sea level (the Pacific or the Atlantic) to the level of Gatun Lake in Panama (26 meters above sea level) and then sail the channel through the Continental Divide. Per command of the canal authority, ships move through the locks slowly. Since the clearance between the ship and lock walls are very small, ships are tethered-pulled and controlled by locomotives on the port (below left) and starboard (below right) sides of the ship in a highly synchronized manner (below center, video clip).

For nearly a century, the Panama Canal has accommodated a wide range of ship types and sizes and is reported to handle nearly 5% of global trade. In the same period, ship design and design-objectives have also gone through major evolution: thousands of deadweight tons (DWT) vessels have grown to hundreds of thousands of DWT giants. In recent times, ships have been designed with a beam (width) restriction of “Panamax” (that is, it cannot exceed the maximum width of the canal locks). Now larger container ships cannot pass through and in July 2006 Panama voted to widen its Canal. This large-scale expansion project will have many challenges and will definitely be a feat of Extreme Engineering.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s educational resources on the Panama Canal and extreme engineering. For related curricula, visit the Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering Education, Ocean Engineering Education, Civil Engineering Education and Construction Engineering Education disciplinary communities.

Today in History – October 23-24 – TRON Legacy Exhibit at the National Science & Engineering Festival.

The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) has teamed up with Walt Disney Studios to co-create an interactive exhibit in Tent 102 at the USA Science & Engineering Festival Expo, which will take place on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 23 and 24 from 10 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. each day.  The hands-on experience blends themes from the upcoming major motion picture TRON: Legacy with the NAE’s Grand Challenges for Engineering.

Exhibit-goers will be transported into the digital world of TRON: Legacy and examine where movie fantasy and reality intersect.  Visitors can try 3-D scanning and see how it’s bringing the real and virtual worlds closer together.  They’ll get a chance to do brain surgery on a computer-generated replica of a real brain, and experience a trip into the TRON: Legacy digital grid through an incredible 3-D light painting activity created especially for this exhibit. The NAE worked with Disney Imagineering research scientist Lanny Smoot (upper right photo) to develop the interactive demo.

TRON: Legacy is the stand-alone sequel to the 1982 motion picture TRON.  Both star Jeff Bridges as software engineer and video game developer Kevin Flynn, who was digitized by a laser and transported into a world of computer games in the original film.  In TRON: Legacy, Flynn’s son Sam finds himself in the digital realm where his father has lived for the past two decades.  The film, in theaters nationwide on Dec. 17, 2010, involved cutting-edge movie technologies, including one that allows Bridges to act as his younger self.

“Engineering is woven into the very fabric of TRON: Legacy. The story is rich with themes about technology and its evolving relationship with humanity in an increasingly digital world,” said co-producer Justin Springer.  “The line between science and art is blurring more than ever.  And some of the most talented artists in modern film making are engineers, mathematicians, architects, and computer programmers.”

An international committee of some of today’s most accomplished engineers and scientists determined the NAE’s Grand Challenges for Engineering.  They identified 14 potentially “game changing” goals for helping people and the planet thrive in the 21^st century that include enhancing virtual reality; engineering better medicines; advancing personalized learning; engineering the tools of scientific discovery; and reverse engineering the brain.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s resources on the inaugural USA Science & Engineering Festival and the NAE Grand Challenges. For related educational resources, visit the engineering education and the computer graphics & visualization disciplinary communities.

Also on this date on October 23, 1819, the first boat passed through the Erie Canal. On October 24, 1861 the transcontinental telegraph line was completed.

Today in History – August 15, 1914 – First ship through the Panama Canal. Ever since Europeans discovered the new world, sailors dreamed of linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans across the Isthmus of Panama, a narrow neck of land connecting North and South America in what is now the country of Panama. The construction of the Panama Canal meant that ships no longer needed to take the long and arduous route around the tip of South America and could shorten that voyage by weeks and thousands of miles.

The United States built the original canal at a cost of about $380 million, employing thousands of laborers over 10 years. Using steam shovels and dredges they cut through jungles, hills and swamps, removed 211 million cubic yards of earth and rock and workers suffered from malaria and yellow fever.

The United States controlled the Panama Canal Zone from 1903-1999. Now owned by Panama, the Canal operates as an international enterprise in character. For example, the Panama Canal is the one place in the world where a Captain must surrender command of his or her ship to go through the canal.

The Panama Canal is an amazing feat of engineering and is sometimes called the Eighth Wonder of the World. The canal operates as a ship elevator using three sets of water-filled chambers (locks) to raise and lower ships from one level to another. The ships must move between sea level (the Pacific or the Atlantic) to the level of Gatun Lake in Panama (26 meters above sea level) and then sail the channel through the Continental Divide. Per command of the canal authority, ships move through the locks slowly. Since the clearance between the ship and lock walls are very small, ships are tethered-pulled and controlled by locomotives on the port (below left) and starboard (below right) sides of the ship in a highly synchronized manner (below center, video clip).

For nearly a century, the Panama Canal has accommodated a wide range of ship types and sizes and is reported to handle nearly 5% of global trade. In the same period, ship design and design-objectives have also gone through major evolution: thousands of deadweight tons (DWT) vessels have grown to hundreds of thousands of DWT giants. In recent times, ships have been designed with a beam (width) restriction of “Panamax” (that is, it cannot exceed the maximum width of the canal locks). Now larger container ships cannot pass through and in July 2006 Panama voted to widen its Canal. This large-scale expansion project will have many challenges and will definitely be a feat of Extreme Engineering.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s educational resources on the Panama Canal and extreme engineering. For related curricula, visit the Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering Education, Ocean Engineering Education, Civil Engineering Education and Construction Engineering Education disciplinary communities.

Today in History – July 27, 2010 – Plastic bottle catamaran named “Plastiki” completes epic pacific crossing. A crew of experts, scientists, and creatives, led by visionary explorer David de Rothschild,  sailed over 12,000 nautical miles across the Pacific Ocean from San Francisco to Sydney in a boat made out of plastic bottles and recycled waste products. The name “Plastiki” was inspired by Thor Heyerdal’s 1947 epic expedition the Kontiki.

The purpose of this bold adventure was to draw attention to our carbon footprint with a focus on those ubiquitous PEP water bottles and the Pacific Garbage Patch.  The catamaran design was a pioneering example of sustainable design.

The team aims to captivate and inspire, as well as to motivate tomorrow’s environmental thinkers and doers to take positive action for the planet and be smart with waste. Ultimately, they hope to inspire people to rethink waste as a valuable resource. One person’s waste could be another person’s treasure.”

When teaching a course for engineering faculty in India, I used the problems of PET water bottles as the week-long class project. Usually made of PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate), ~25g per bottle, these plastics use:

• 6.45 kg oil/ kg PET
• 294.2 kg water/ kg PET
• 3.723 kg Green House Gases/ kg PET
• and that’s not even including transportation!

You are welcome to use my slides. This problem is ubiquitous, and the solutions will be geographically and culturally depend. Makes a great project for human-centered sustainable design. Also allows for some creative designs that address the triple bottom line of planet, people and profit. My favorite case study is the formation and expansion of the TerraCycle company.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s resources on Plastiki and  water bottles.  Or take a virtual tour of the Plastiki and learn how this boat survived the mighty ocean. Click on “hot spots” for more details on the catamaran design. For related educational resources, visit the Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering Education and Ocean Engineering Education disciplinary communities.

Also on this date on July 27, 1866, the First transatlantic cable was completed.

Today in History – July 12, 1920 – Official opening of the Panama Canal by Woodrow Wilson; although used since August 15, 1914.  Ever since Europeans discovered the new world, sailors dreamed of linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans across the Isthmus of Panama, a narrow neck of land connecting North and South America in what is now the country of Panama. The construction of the Panama Canal meant that ships no longer needed to take the long and arduous route around the tip of South America and could shorten that voyage by weeks and thousands of miles.

The United States built the original canal at a cost of about $380 million, employing thousands of laborers over 10 years. Using steam shovels and dredges they cut through jungles, hills and swamps, removed 211 million cubic yards of earth and rock and workers suffered from malaria and yellow fever.

The United States controlled the Panama Canal Zone from 1903-1999. Now owned by Panama, the Canal operates as an international enterprise in character. For example, the Panama Canal is the one place in the world where a Captain must surrender command of his or her ship to go through the canal.

The Panama Canal is an amazing feat of engineering and is sometimes called the Eighth Wonder of the World. The canal operates as a ship elevator using three sets of water-filled chambers (locks) to raise and lower ships from one level to another. The ships must move between sea level (the Pacific or the Atlantic) to the level of Gatun Lake in Panama (26 meters above sea level) and then sail the channel through the Continental Divide. Per command of the canal authority, ships move through the locks slowly. Since the clearance between the ship and lock walls are very small, ships are tethered-pulled and controlled by locomotives on the port (below left) and starboard (below right) sides of the ship in a highly synchronized manner (below center, video clip).

For nearly a century, the Panama Canal has accommodated a wide range of ship types and sizes and is reported to handle nearly 5% of global trade. In the same period, ship design and design-objectives have also gone through major evolution: thousands of deadweight tons (DWT) vessels have grown to hundreds of thousands of DWT giants. In recent times, ships have been designed with a beam (width) restriction of “Panamax” (that is, it cannot exceed the maximum width of the canal locks). Now larger container ships cannot pass through and in July 2006 Panama voted to widen its Canal. This large-scale expansion project will have many challenges and will definitely be a feat of Extreme Engineering.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s educational resources on the Panama Canal and extreme engineering. For related curricula, visit the Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering Education, Ocean Engineering Education, Civil Engineering Education and Construction Engineering Education disciplinary communities.

Today in History -  May 20, 1899 – the American Physical Society (APS) is founded for the advancement and diffusion of the knowledge of physics. It was originally formed at Columbia University by 36 scientists from 17 institutions who elected Henry Rowland as their first president and A.A. Michelson as the first vice-president. It has since grown to a membership of more than 46,000 and publishes some of the most prestigious physics journals in the world. As the APS has grown, it has become ever more involved in issues of public outreach and education. For more information on educational resources in physics, see the APS Education web pages, search the Engineering Pathway’s educational resources on applied physics, or visit the comPADRE Digital Library for physics and astronomy education, a partnership of the American Association of Physics Teachers, the APS, the American Astronomical Society, the American Institute of Physics, and the Society for Physics Students.

Also on this date in 1790, Charles Lindbergh makes the first solo flight across the Atlantic. For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s educational resources on the history of flight or view our Aerospace Engineering Education community site.