Lectures on Tap-"Beyond Test Dummies: Inside the World of Test Engineering"

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🧠 Lecture: "Beyond Test Dummies: Inside the World of Test Engineering"

🎤 Speaker: Alex Davies

Before almost anything can be sold, someone has to prove it won’t kill you. That proof comes from tests—and the world of test engineering is far stranger, riskier, and more human than it looks from the outside.

Based on his forthcoming book, "Kobuk the Destroyer: And Other Tales from the Wild, Unseen World of Test Engineering" (W.W. Norton, 2026), journalist and author Alex Davies takes you behind the scenes of the invisible work that keeps our world (mostly) safe.

You’ll meet Kobuk, the grizzly bear who methodically defeats “bear-proof” trash cans; ride with Air Force surgeon John Stapp, who strapped himself to a 600 mph rocket sled; and step into wind tunnels where architects and engineers test everything from skyscrapers to the Golden Gate Bridge’s eerie hum.

Along the way, Davies explores how safety standards are negotiated, why tests must imitate reality—but not too closely—and how designing “to the test” can create new dangers.

Come learn what’s really behind that “tested and certified” label—and see the objects around you in an entirely new light.

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