The Engineering History Podcast | Inventions, Builders, Hackers, Projects, and Stories from Our Past

Anna and Paul discuss offensive teenagers, the Bongcloud Attack, Tesla, artificially generated poetry, Google Glass, and much more in an action-packed episode on the weird and wacky developments from the world of AI! Tune your audio receptors in to our dissection of deep learning, driving, and DALL-E.

Anna and Paul discuss the project that united Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, Teddy Roosevelt, and Gustave Eiffel (of Eiffel Tower fame)! Put on your mosquito netting because we're going to be surviving malaria, monsoons, and malnutrition to get this one done.

Anna and Paul discuss crazy billionaires, presidential gaffes, dumb test names, McNukes, holes in the ozone layer, and much more in a rousing, thought-provoking discussion of humanity's capability to unleash destruction on a mind-boggling scale.

Anna and Paul discuss WWII Great Britain's plan to supply their troops with hot, fresh oil, piping it directly to them using a pipeline located under the frigid waters of the English Channel. Listen in to hear how they solved a real "conundrum!"

Anna, Paul, and special guest Joe discuss the Bay Area metro, BART, and how it serves as a case study for reliable, cheap public transportation. Grab your conductor hat and fire up your engine cause we're taking a ride through a submerged underwater tube at 80 miles per hour!

Anna and Paul discuss the man who went on a Batman-style quest to use technology to break the aristocracy’s millennias-long monopoly on owning books. Is it the epic tale of one man’s resistance to censorship and tyranny, or just the world’s craziest mid-life crisis? You decide!

Anna and Paul discuss one of engineering's most famous disasters. Hear them "sink" into a tale of arrogance, negligence, and determining the precise angle at which a boat's hull will crack in freezing Atlantic waters!

Anna and Paul discuss the Big Mama herself, the Golden Gate Bridge! Listen in to hear about the bridge's narcissistic poet construction manager, the time it was almost closed forever, and the zipper-inspired way that handles early morning commute traffic!

Anna and Paul discuss the history of beekeeping up to our modern day! Come listen to us "drone" on about the matriarchal society, hexagonal structures, and multiple stomachs of these fascinating, engineer-like creatures.

Anna and Paul discuss the strange rituals, technical achievements, and wacky hijinks of one of JPL's founders. Grab your solid rocket motor and get your cult robes on cause we're headed to the moon!

Anna and Paul discuss the dark secret behind a rash of horrific injuries that teenage factory workers were subjected to during radium's Glowing Era. This subject gets heavy at times- but it eventually led us to a deep discussion about greed, corruption, and human nature.

Anna and Paul discuss the patron saint of women in STEM, Marie Curie, and her groundbreaking research on radium. Listen in for a story of science, scandal, and securing the bag!

Anna and Paul discuss the architects, engineers, aliens, laborers, and girlbosses who built the pyramids, temples, and obelisks of Ancient Egypt. Come make contact with extraterrestrials and unlock your telekinetic powers so we can finish these infrastructure projects!

Anna and Paul discuss the negligent plutocrats who literally painted over the structural issues of a giant Bostonian vat of molasses... with predictable results. Spoiler alert: they blamed the terrorists.

Anna and Paul discuss the "shocking" tale of Silicon Valley's quasi-founder, a guy who makes all techbros since seem tame by comparison. Listen in for a story of paranoia, narcissism, and unrealistic parental expectations!

Anna and Paul discuss corruption, negligence, incompetence, and all the other adjectives you would associate with Los Angeles infrastructure projects. Listen in to hear what happens when you put money before the people!

Anna and Paul discuss the ethics of launching animals into low earth orbit in hastily-constructed spacecraft. We're joined by our dog River, a subject matter expert.  Please turn the podcast off while we're attempting Russian accents (really, it's not worth it).