Henry Petroski, who demystified engineering with literary examinations of the designs and failures of large structures like buildings and bridges, as well as everyday items like the pencil and the toothpick, died on June 14 in hospice care in Durham, N.C. His wife, Catherine Petroski, said the cause was cancer. Dr. Petroski, a longtime professor of civil and environmental engineering at Duke University, adapted the architectural axiom “form follows function” into one of his own — “form follows failure” — and addressed the subject extensively in books, lectures, scholarly journals, The New York Times and magazines like Forbes and American Scientist. “Failure is central to engineering,” he said when The Times profiled him in 2006. “Every single calculation that an engineer makes is a failure calculation.

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Persons: Henry Petroski, Catherine Petroski, Petroski, ”, “ Organizations: Duke University, The New York Times, Forbes, The Times, Kansas City Hyatt Regency Locations: Durham, N.C, American, Kansas, Tacoma, Washington State