Engineering Memory of the Month

Creativity in design

In 1957 Stanford Engineering scored a coup by hiring mechanical engineering Professor John Arnold away from MIT. Arnold had achieved reown–including a five-page spread in Life Magazine in 1955–for his courses in engineering and creativity. This photo is from the issue of Life. He taught the creative process in the context of design and, no doubt, contributed to Stanford’s strong and enduring reputation as an innovator in design education.

Arnold is particular touched the life of alumnus Ben Lehman, now retired rear admiral in the U.S. Naval Reserves. At the time, Lehman was a part-time student while working for a company called “Beckman/Spinco.” Almost 50 years later, he still recalls Arnold and the course fondly:

“This class in creativity seemed interesting as it was described and I took it was an experiment. The first quarter we read books on all varieties of creativity and each student gave an oral review of one of them. As I remember it, the second and third quarters were more of the same but with a greater emphasis on overcoming psychological blocks. By the end of the third quarter, I was not only interested, I was impressed.”

“It’s hard to say how this contributed to my career, however, problem solving ability was certainly a part of it. My last salaried job was VP of Engineering for Litton Ship Systems in Pascagoula. That one involved many disciplines and many unusual problems. Since then I have been an ‘expert’ in matters that involved litigation and this has involved proposing some unusual solutions to problems.”

Tragically, Arnold died in 1963 of a heart attack while on a sabbatical in Europe. He was 50 years old. Even now, he is not forgotten.

Gather more memorable photos from your school days and take them to the scanner. Then e-mail them to David Orenstein, communications and PR manager, for possible posting.