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.
I disagree with listing "Falling Down" as an engineering movie. The fact that Michael Douglas's character was an engineer is only relevant when used to describe his disillusionment with the world and how his character has been handling (or not) his stress level. It is easy to imagine him in the role when compared to a Hollywood envisioned engineer. My picks are movies that show some insight into the personal and professional work worlds of engineers. One is a slightly sophomoric "Real Genius" starring Val Kilmer as a college student used by his professor to work on a high powered laser system and the second is Christopher Walken in "Brainstorm". Both these movies show some of the politics and personal sacrifices engineers make to follow their dreams.
These are interesting definitions of an engineering movie. I never would have thought of Falling Down as one, although it's one of my all-time favorite movies (especially after living in LA). I think of it more as social commentary and assumed the fact that the main character is an engineer is due more to Hollywood's idea of a normal nebbish type Everyman. I think the title of this article should be "What's Your Pick for Best STEM Movie?" Anyway, I agree with Jenn, Flash of Genius is probably my pick.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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 Machinist Calc Pro computes speeds and feed rates for milling, turning, and drilling: cutting speed, spindle speed, feed rate (inches/minute), cutting feed, etc.
During a recent meeting with engineering-school faculty and alumni, Contributing Technical Editor Jon Titus talked about whether colleges should educate generalists or specialists. What do you think?
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 3
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is
To save this item to your list of favorite Design News content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
If you found this interesting or useful, please use the links to the services below to share it with other readers. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service.
Tweet This
2 
