Duke Flags Lowered: Henry Petroski, ‘Poet Laureate of Technology’ and Professor of Engineering and History, Dies

Henry Petroski, a longtime professor at Duke University who seamlessly intertwined loves of engineering, history and writing, died June 14. He was 81.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in Park Slope and Cambria Heights, Queens, Petroski turned his curiosity about the origins of the structures and objects around him into a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Manhattan College in 1963. He then quickly earned master’s and doctoral degrees in theoretical and applied mechanics from