MECCA Week was a tradition at the University of Iowa College of Engineering for many years.  This celebration took place around St. Patrick’s Day, due to St. Patrick being the patron saint of engineers.   One popular event was the search for the Blarney Stone. It is named for the Blarney Stone in Ireland which,Continue reading “A Mecca Tradition: The Blarney Stone”

The College of Engineering celebrates E-Week in conjunction with National Engineers Week, February 16 – 22, 2014. During E-Week, a variety of student-organized activities help celebrate and recognize engineers and their contributions to society. However, did you know that the College of Engineering founded a similar event more than 100 years ago? On March 17,Continue reading “Celebrating Engineers”

What is more romantic than riding a Ferris wheel? Considering George W. G. Ferris, Jr. was born on Valentine’s Day in 1859, perhaps nothing. Ferris was an engineer who graduated from Rensselear Polytechnic Institute (Troy, NY) and founded the G.W.G. Ferris & Co. firm (Pittsburgh, PA) which tested and inspected metals for railroads and bridges. He is credited forContinue reading “Let the Spinning Wheel Spin”

Charles Darwin is known for his work on the theory of evolution but did you also know he spent time researching earthworms? Each year on Feb 12th, we celebrate Darwin Day as a celebration on the anniversary of the birth of the historical scientist Charles Darwin, who was born on February 12, 1809. Darwin isContinue reading “Theory of Evolution and …. Earthworms?”

The world today would be a very different place without the inventions of Thomas A. Edison.  He was known as the Wizard of Menlo Park. Edison had obtained 1,093 US Patents over 63 years from 1868 to 1931 (1,084 utility patents and 9 design patents).  Only 2 people hold more patents in the United States.Continue reading “Happy Birthday, Thomas A. Edison!”

The Lichtenberger Engineering Library is now highlighting the Winter Olympics. This exhibit features information related to the Winter Olympics in general and showcases some of the engineering components for the fifteen sports participating through a plethora of library resources. The 22nd Winter Olympics is scheduled to take place from February 6th to 23rd, 2014 in Russia,Continue reading “The Winter Olympic comes to the Engineering Library”

I hope you did and are doing well with finals and enjoyed the hot coffee, cocoa and cider served at the Engineering Library to help you keep awake during these grueling sessions.  In between exams I saw some of you putting together the LEGO blocks and it looked like you were having fun!  The LEGO blocks were for you from KariContinue reading “Well Finals Are Almost Over And The Holidays Are About To Begin!”

Right now showing at the engineering library is an exhibit called The Cult of LEGO.  It shows what can be created with Lego and touches on the many books we have on LEGO at the library. Lego is a popular line of construction toys manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company’sContinue reading “The Cult of LEGO Exhibit”

Steel bridges : conceptual and structural design of steel and steel-concrete composite bridges / Jean-Paul Lebet, Manfred A. Hirt ; translated from the French by Graham Couchman. Jean-Paul Lebet Available at Engineering  Library (TG380 .L43 2013 ) The book is divided in 5 parts. The first part is the a general introduction to bridges and terminologyContinue reading “New at the Engineering Library a book about Steel Bridges”