I have seen several forums on which engineers listed their favorite engineering movies. Of course they place "Apollo 13," "The Flight of the Phoenix," and others at the top of the lists. If you missed the two-part Public Broadcasting Service show, "Azorian: The Raising of the K-129," you're in for awe-inspiring engineering experience. In my opinion, this film would receive the number-one position on a list of engineering films.
On 8 March 1968, the Russian submarine K-129 sank in the north-central Pacific, likely as a result of an accident, although the cause remains unknown. The Russians could not locate the sunken sub, but US acoustic sensors detected its implosion, and triangulation placed the sunken sub within a 5-mile-square area. Given the known location of a possible treasure trove of raw information, US intelligence experts mounted Project Azorian, which would attempt to raise a portion of the sunken submarine. The CIA hoped to obtain codebooks, and secure communication equipment, undamaged ballistic missiles (the sub carried three), and torpedoes.
The PBS film "Azorian" documents the construction of the equipment needed to raise a sunken Russian submarine.
The PBS film documents the construction of the equipment needed for the effort, and explains how the various components would work. Interviews with historians and people involved with the project provide insight into operations that published stories lack.
The Russian sub was about 3 miles underwater, so the government turned to companies with experience in deep-water drilling. Even for them, the project was a gigantic and risky operation. I was astounded by the types and size of the equipment used, and how engineers came up with so many ingenious devices for the salvage work.
Eventually, the salvage ship Glomar Explorer, ostensibly built for reclusive and eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes and his business empire, sailed to the salvage site in 1974. I won't spoil the conclusion for you, but it almost seemed anticlimactic. The engineering work stole the show.
The scale of this project is difficult to comprehend, and although details have leaked over the years -- and various theories abound about the sub, it's demise, and the salvage -- the PBS film provides the only comprehensive examination of the project. It includes photographs and film taken contemporaneously to document the project, and includes animations that illustrate the salvage operations and how the giant equipment worked.
It's such a fascinating engineering story. I recommend the film highly.
Watch the film's trailer here. Also be sure to click on the comment link below and tell us what your favorite engineering movie is.
Our first crack at best engineering movie came back in July, with Chuck Murray's story, which is here and which you should go check out. My pick then -- and I'll stick with it, is 1993's Falling Down, starring Michael Douglas as a sad-sack laid-off defense worker who goes postal.
Excellent choice, Alex. That was a great movie, definitely underrated. I'm going with one of Chuck's picks from back in July - 2008's Flash of Genius, a true story about a man named Robert Kearns (played by Greg Kinnear) who invented the intermittent windshield wiper. He wages a legal war on Detroit automakers after they implement the wipers on their cars, but don't give Kearns credit for the invention. Like Michael Douglas in Falling Down, Kearns basically loses everything in his quest for credit/compensation for the design.
Funny you should mention "Flash of Genius," Jenn. Like many a great, lone inventor (superhet and FM inventor Edwin Howard Armstrong comes to mind) intermittent windshield wiper inventor Robert Kearns basically lost every (his family, for one) in his quest to get credit for his invention. I wrote a blog post about this four years ago, under the headline, "How Inventors Always Get Screwed."
Interesting post, Alex. It's a sad commentary on our times that so many people before Kearns, and I'm sure many more after, have to fight the big corporations to get the credit/compensation they deserve. While it's sad that these people are willing to lose everything for it, I have to admire their drive and passion for uncovering the truth and corruption.
The canonical case of the inventor who's been screwed is the most important yet least recognized inventor of the Radio era. That would be Edwin Howard Armstrong, who inarguably was responsible for more, and more significant, inventors than any of his peers. He did the regenerative receiver, superheterodyne, super regenerative, and FM. He had a love-hate relationship with famed RCA head David Sarnoff, who, though he helped Armstrong many times, also screwed him out of money and credit. Though Armstrong was eventually vindicated by the courts, it was after he committed suicide. See a short bio here. I commend readers to a great, out of print biography, entitled "Man of High Fidelity." If you search enough, you can find a free pdf ebook version
Based on your recommendation, Jon, I will watch Azorian. In the meantime, my favorite is still October Sky, which can only loosely be categorized as an engineering movie. It's about a high school student in the 1950s who is inspired by Sputnik and dreams of becoming a rocket engineer (it was based on the book "Rocket Boys"). Every time I see I can't help but think of the stories about the tired NASA engineers involved in the moon landing effort who, during their 16-hour days, would walk outside and look at the moon for inspiration. I like October Sky because it's one of the few movies that portrays a young, wannabe scientist as a normal person.
Alex: I looked at your story for Information Week. Good stuff. Two more great stories on that topic are about the late inventor Jerome Lemelson. One -- "Land of Wizards" -- was written by Tom Wolfe for Popular Mechanics in 1986. It is not on line, as far as I know. Another, titled "Lone Wolf of the Sierras," was written by our own Larry Maloney of Design News in 1995. Unfortunately, that ten-page article was written prior to our web presence, and the first paragraph is all that remains on our web site.
I liked "October Sky," too. The book gave readers many more details in particular about Homer's teacher; the Laura Dern character in the movie. Homer's family life didn't get much attention in the movie, either. To anyone who wants to watch the movie I recommend you read the book first.
I agree that October Sky was a wonderful movie about catching fire with science. Tucker -- A Man and His Dream was also a good story about a small company with innovative technology going up against a large industry.
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