Ingenuity
Inventions, workarounds, repairs, and technical ideas developed under pressure.
Investigations
The Hatch Opened Inward
Apollo 1’s ignition source was never conclusively identified. NASA’s review instead found a pressurized pure-oxygen cabin, combustible materials near possible ignition sources, and an inner hatch the crew…
They Buried the Dead Apart
In 1928, hurricane winds drove Lake Okeechobee through a low dike, killing at least 2,500 people. The graves and the 143-mile dike still remain.
The Way Out Was Underground
During the Big Burn of 1910, Ed Pulaski led roughly 45 firefighters into an abandoned mine tunnel. Their survival became legend—and the fire helped shape a century of…
The Word Came Out of the Mine
After 1,099 miners died at Courrières in 1906, thirteen men emerged alive after twenty days underground. Their survival even changed the French language.
The Lighthouse Was Gone at Dawn
In 1946, a tsunami erased Alaska’s Scotch Cap Lighthouse and reached Hawaiʻi nearly five hours later without warning. The disaster helped create America’s first permanent tsunami warning system.
They Found the Bomb Twice
After the 1966 Palomares nuclear accident, Alvin found the missing bomb 2,550 feet underwater—then it vanished again during recovery. The Navy had to find it twice.
The Filter Was at the Top
Windscale’s chimney filter was a late addition 125 metres above the reactor. In 1957 it caught most radioactive particulate—but iodine vapour still escaped into the milk supply.
Thirty Men Were Enough
Before Vasa sailed in 1628, thirty men ran back and forth across the deck in a stability test that was stopped when the ship rolled dangerously. Vasa foundered…