HENRY PETROSKI, 1942–2023

An obituary for prolific engineer-historian Henry Petroski, who died on June 14, 2023 at the age of 81, is presented. He is the Aleksandar S. Vesic Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Duke University. A Prism columnist since 2000, he wrote about all manner of things large and small, past and present, that piqued his curiosity. Petroski's score of books, deeply researched but accessible to a broad readership. Petroski's elevation of common objects, such as the toothpick, intrigued media and readers alike. But as an educator and columnist, he often returned to the theme of his first book, published in 1985: To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design. Obviating failure, he contended, is "the principal objective" as well as "a unifying theme" of engineering design.