Can an Engineer Appreciate Art?

By Henry Petroski

Physical rigor may seem at odds with playful whimsy, but the tension between the two has produced some of the greatest public works.

This Article From Issue

January-February 2015

Volume 103, Number 1

Page 14

DOI: 10.1511/2015.112.14

View Issue

Last spring a magazine cover caught my eye and caused me to reflect on the seemingly divergent creative disciplines of engineering and art. The cover’s artwork showed a realistically rendered International Space Station sprawled against a background of dark, starry space. This part of the cover was all understandable in the context of science: orbital mechanics, astronomy, cosmology, and the like.

The cover of The New Yorker, June 2, 2014: An act of clever art or sloppy engineering?

© The New Yorker/Bruce McCall/Condé Nast

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