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-- Posted by Celeste Baine on November 6, 2008 Talkback From David Keathly - OK, I have two for you. One is off the air and both have Richard Dean Anderson in them: 1) MacGyver - he was always having to solve problems and think on his feet to invent some gadget to get out of a bad situation. 2) Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis - having to reverse engineer alien technology and integrate our existing technology with it so that they can co-exist and communicate...way cool! From Dara Randerson - The Great Escape-Charles Bronson, Steve McQueen made in 1960's - In an effort to escape from a Nazi prison camp, allied forces prisoners dug a long tunnel underground with small garden tools over a long period of time-hauling out the dirt by the pocketful. The dirt was used to build small gardens in the camp and the balance was distributed under raised prison barracks. The prisoners attempted to dig three separate tunnels that included rail systems, lighting and a pump system for air-all fabricated from parts stolen from around the camp. Each tunnel was a separate attempt for freedom. Only one tunnel was successful.
A classic movie and great example of problem solving using innovative techniques and materials! Civil and mechanical engineering concepts used by common men to solve a complicated problem. From Stan Childs - Mythbusters From Mike Day - The best example is the professor on Gilligan's Island. He made everything, including a bike, out of bamboo and other items found on the island. One time he made a glue and they fixed the boat, but the glue did not hold.
If you want a more current example, Lost comes to mind. When they need something and it is not always there, Jack usually creates something. They built a boat out of materials from the island.
Also the movie Castaway has many examples of engineering. Again he used things he found on the island.
I just realized that there is a theme here. From Sam Styers - I can think of at least one example from "Lost". Somewhere around Seasons 2 or 3, Sayid created a temporary battery for a walkie talkie radio in order to try and find a way off the "island". Being a part of the Iraq Republican Army, he was adept at this type of situation.
Have a great day. From Eric Heiselt - 1. CSI (any of them)-- the investigators have to re-create events based solely on the resulting evidence. They also have to determine ways to get the evidence to work together -- for instance, how the trajectory of the bullet was affected by the glass window that it traveled through as well as determining which gun it came from based on markings or striations on the bullet itself. The investigators also must use their chemistry in determining chemical makeup of evidence and then finding the original product.
2. Crusoe (new on NBC)is an extreme engineer. He has designed a number of mechanisms to make his life in the tree house easier. It is almost like MacGyver meets Tarzan of the Apes. His work is not only in mechanisms, he works with chemistry, structures and aeronautics. He creates a water delivery system, a simple machines system that allows him to light a signal fire from a far distance, and of course there is the treehouse.
3. Batman -- whether it be movies, TV or cartoon. Batman is the ultimate engineer. He is the only "superhero" without superpowers, he only uses his brain. He engineered every tool on his utility belt as well as his car and other vehicles. From Bob Spellmeyer - The crime scene shows (CSI, NCIS, etc) are set up to follow a format of following the facts to arrive at a conclusion; so it’s as much a scientific method as it is an engineering / problem-solving format.
NFL football uses reverse engineering by taking time-lapse photographs of opposing team plays during a game, analyzing how the opposing defense or offense is constructed, and adjusting the game plan based on that.
NASCAR – on TV they show the technology that goes into the new Car-of-today by using a cutaway car. Again, teams must maximize fuel mileage, constantly revising calculations. They need to adjust for weather and track conditions, and adjust for the ever-changing condition of the car through the race.
If I didn’t have to teach, I could go on about NASCAR applications for an hour From Craig Devine - Gilligan's Island - their contraptions they developed for survival and/or hoped-hoped for rescue
Indianna Jones - the amazing devices they either use or battle against or have to figure out how to defeat
House - the thinking/diagnosing process they portray, as well as the equipment used in the hospitals
Star Trek - so much technology everywhere.
Jurassic Park - genetic engineering as well as fancy control and transportation systems
Modern Marvels - excellent show about many engineering designs
Extreme Engineering - a show focused on exciting engineering accomplishments
Discovery Channel - often about engineering accomplishments.
The shows about building custom motorcycles and custom cars - both include alot of engineering design, both mechanical and aesthetic design.
There's also a show about disasters, and often they delve into contruction disasters and the engineering failures that caused the problems.
Wow - once you think about it, there are more than I realized!
From James Troisi - When I was a kid, I always wanted to be Artimus Gordon in "The Wild Wild West". He was an engineer (in western dudes) that made doable/practical inventions that often trumped the shoot-them-up solutions of his cohort, James West. (FYI: I did grow up to be an engineer.)
From Greg Goldbogen - Two programs which are the most unlike of all to include engineering applications is on the Food Network. These are The Food Network Challenge and Ace of Cakes. In each of these the chefs create the most amazing cakes which require some knowledge of structural engineering in order to ensure that the cakes, some of which are immense structures, do not collapse. This is especially important when they are transported.
From Jim Swartos - Engineering is problem solving comment: Iron Man is another "Super Hero" that does not have super powers. He has developed technology that makes him extremely strong, able to fly, nearly indestructible, etc...
The old and new version of Knight Rider, the heavily engineered vehicle that can think and act, morph into different shapes, repair itself, nearly indestructible, take defensive and offensive action, etc...
Survivorman (Les Stroud) where a guy gets dropped into a variety of remote locations (by himself) with very minimal supplies/materials and has to survive for a week or more on his own. He uses whatever he has and things he finds in the wild to build shelter, traps, water collection devices, etc...
Bear Grylis (Man Vs Wild) does some very dangerous things (and has a crew with him if he gets hurt and needs help...). It actually came out a couple months ago that once the cameras are turned off, he may go to a hotel, spend the night and then start his adventure again in the morning...after a big breakfast!
Smallville...the engineering of far-out devices, mind control contraptions, other-worldly crystals with far-reaching abilities, shape-changing and ultra-smart Dr Fein (a created being), it is ScFi...the sky is the limit!
The Green Arrow, yet another "Super Hero" without super powers. He develops (engineers!) arrows with many different capabilities...explosive, gas, nets, sedatives, mechanical capture, etc...he also has small, powerful winches to hoist himself up and out of danger. From Linda Hutchison - Here's one of the funniest ones I can remember.
Seinfeld - Season 6: Episode 104: The Doorman when Kramer designs a new undergarment and presents Frank with "The Bro" - the bra for men.
http://www.tbs.com/stories/story/0,,69158,00.html
Kramer was a natural, albeit not very successful, engineer. Kramer also showed an entrepreneurial spirit with "Kramerica Industries," for which he devised plans for a pizza place where customers made their own pie "Male Unbonding", a bladder system for tankers that would "put an end to maritime oil spills" "The Voice", and a product that would put ketchup and mustard in the same bottle.
He also came up with the idea of a beach-scented cologne in "The Pez Dispenser", but a marketing executive for Calvin Klein informed him that the idea was senseless. However, in "The Pick", it is revealed that Klein has produced a cologne called Ocean based on the same idea.
From Kathie Donohue - An examples that are current now would be the sets that the students design, build and operate for their musical "productions" in all of the extremely popular "High School Musical" movies. Stage sets are full of engineering - they have to be designed so that they don't collapse, and can carry both dead load and sometimes live load. Mechanical engineering is also involved with moving the sets, including raising/lowering curtains. You also have sound systems and lighting.
Another example would be the movie "The Money Pit". Not only is engineering required for the renovations needed for the house, but the numerous disaster sequences also required quite a bit of engineering and timing to make them work.
From Brenda Troisi - Gilligan's Island (which I watched religiously as a child) always involved complicated rube goldberg machines and harebrained rescue schemes. I didn't want to be glamorous Ginger, I wanted to be the Professor. Must be why I'm an engineer now.
Haven't watched TV since I was a teen-ager so can't contribute anything more recent.
From Ron Greenman - Although the emphasis is not on the innovative technology two European movies about WW II jump to mind. In both "Is Paris Burning?" and the much more recent "Black Book" civilian vehicles with coal gasification devices are prominent. Gasoline for civilian use being essentially unobtainable in Europe during the war what were for all practical purposes mini cooking plants were adapted to cars and trucks which ran off the coal gas produced in the slow cooking of the coal. Another film example would be the "This American Experience" episode on Stephen Eads. In my opinion the most important unknown engineer in American history. Certainly the fore runner to the late nineteenth/early twentieth century giants like Edison, Carneigie and Ford.
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