'Engines of Our Ingenuity's' John Lienhard to Speak at JSC Gilruth Center -- HOUSTON, Nov. 10, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- HOUSTON, Nov. 10, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- John Lienhard, author and voice of "The Engines of Our Ingenuity" public radio program, will speak about the "Aerodynamics of Airplanes, Birds and Fish" at NASA Johnson Space Center's Gilruth Center Ballroom at 7 p.m. CST Wednesday, Nov. 19. Lienhard's talk, hosted by JSC's Safety and Mission Assurance directorate and SAIC, will use photographic evidence about humans watching birds for millennia, trying to understand their flight, wanting to fly like they do, and now, in today's world of advanced aerospace flight asking, does human flight really emulate avian flight? According to Lienhard the short answer to the question is that we may be catching up with birds, but only gradually. "John Lienhard is a great speaker, always surprising listeners with unique information and unexpected results of humanity's creativity," said Juan Traslaviña, lead for the S&MA/SAIC Technical Speaker Forum. Comparing the flight of birds to our mechanically created flight is full of surprises and lessons. This event is free and open to the public. The Gilruth Recreation Center is publicly accessible via Space Center Blvd. Using Bay Area Blvd., travel east from I-45 and turn right on Space Center and go 2 to an entrance on the right. Using NASA 1 or NASA Parkway, traveling east from I-45 and turn left on Space Center Blvd.' the Gilruth entrance is 0.8 miles on the left. Lienhard is professor emeritus of mechanical engineering and history at the University of Houston. His radio program, produced by KUHF-FM in Houston and heard on National Public Radio, tells the story of how our culture is formed by human creativity. Lienhard is known for his research in the thermal sciences and cultural history. For more information about the event, please contact SAIC event coordinator Della Cardona at della.cardona-1@nasa.gov, 281-335-2074.