After the Wright brothers helped America “find her wings”, the early days of aviation were fraught with disaster. That is, until 1929, when Ed Link invented the flight simulator, which allowed pilots to train on the ground. Dubbed the “blue box”, the Link Trainer forged more than half a million Allied Force pilots and revolutionised aviation. Link’s later work—from the Apollo missions to deep-sea submersibles—reengineered twentieth-century America. Rich with lessons for today’s creators, The Blue Box reinvigorates the legacy of a man who transformed our access to the skies, stars and sea. Praise for Wicked Problems: “Madhavan champions the importance of looking at seemingly technical problems through a wider lens—such as the business, policy and social aspects… Wicked Problems is a wake-up call for all engineers to expand their mindset.” —Susan Krumdieck, Nature

"Guru Madhavan’s extraordinarily creative ideas and imagination best categorize him as an engineer’s engineer." -- Rita Colwell, former director of the National Science Foundation, winner of the National Medal of Science, and author of A Lab of One’s Own

Guru Madhavan is the Norman R. Augustine Senior Scholar and senior director of programs at the National Academy of Engineering. He is a prizewinning author of essays and books including Wicked Problems, from which The Blue Box is excerpted, and Applied Minds. He lives in Washington, DC.