February 4, 2026
Why the Hindenburg Had a Smoking Lounge: Essays in Unintended Consequences
Edward Tenner
Distinguished Scholar in the Smithsonian’s Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation and Visiting Scholar in the History Department at Rutgers Univeristy
Why the Hindenburg Had a Smoking Lounge: Essays in Unintended Consequences
Edward Tenner
Distinguished Scholar in the Smithsonian’s Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation and Visiting Scholar in the History Department at Rutgers Univeristy
George Bustin, Introducer, and Edward Tenner
Minutes of the 17th Meeting of the 84th Year
Old Guard President George Bustin called the meeting to order at 10:15 AM and Frances Slade led the membership in the invocation. There were 127 members in attendance. President George Bustin introduced 3 guests: Jeff Gresever, guest of John Cotton; Mike Leopold, guest of Ron Schnur; and Tim Burman, guest of Rob Kuser.
Henry Von Kohorn read the Minutes of the January 28th meeting, at which Brigadier General Stephen Xenakis, MD, Member of Executive Board at the Center for Ethics and Rule of Law, University of Pennsylvania Law School, in conversation with George Bustin, spoke on the topic "The Rule of Law as it Informs Military Leadership and Operations".
President George Bustin announced that books written by next week's speaker, Princeton University Professor Anne Cheng, will be available here for purchase next week.
President George Bustin introduced today's speaker, independent writer Edward Tenner, A.B.1965 Princeton University, PhD University of Chicago, Science Editor at the Princeton University Press, Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study, and author of many books.
Dr. Tenner is teaching a freshmen seminar course at Princeton University's Department of Sociology, entitled "Understanding Disasters", and his talk focused on three topics related to this seminar:
- How he prepared to teach the course;
- Who helped him prepare to teach the course; and
- What are the principles of the course and its futures.
To put his seminar into context, Dr. Tenner explained how he came to study disasters. His interested in disasters was sparked when speaking at the Henry Ford Museum about the 1912 Titanic ship disaster, and he discovered that there had been 135 warnings about fog but only 2-3 about the sea ice which caused the disaster.
He acknowledged 6 mentors, who in addition to his parents, prepared him to be an independent writer:
- James Billington, Princeton University Professor of History and head of the University Scholar's Program, who taught Dr. Tenner to read actively;
- John Davies, Editor of the Princeton Alumni Weekly magazine, who held a PhD in American Studies, who taught Dr. Tenner how to write essays;
- William H. McNeill, University of Chicago professor, who hired Dr. Tenner as a Research Associate with the rank of Assistant Professor, and who introduced him to Lanny Jones who hired Dr. Tenner, who was not a scientist, to be the Science Editor at the Princeton University Press;
- Herb Bailey, his supervisor at the Princeton University Press;
- Walter Lippincott of the Guggenheim Fellowship Program who discouraged Dr Tenner from returning to the Princeton University Press; and
- Joel Cohen, Professor at Columbia University.
Dr Tenner said his Princeton University seminar on "Understanding Disasters" uses tools from many different fields. There are no lectures, just investigative committees, active reading, and discussions of
PREdisaster facts, PEAKdisaster(day of disaster)facts(such as Grey Rhino, Bad Apple, Swiss Cheese events), and POSTdisaster facts(why some disasters are remembered and others are not). The students do not use AI but do use libraries and personal experiences.
He concluded his remarks by referring to General Mark Milly who felt that the purpose of education is to prepare a person for a level of responsibility which may not be reached for many years.
The Speaker responded to questions at the end of his talk:
He said the seminar is about human response to six disasters and how these 6 disasters led to reforms. He mentioned Henry Petrowski of Duke University who wrote several books on the engineering failures which led to disasters and the fact that the Speaker's next book will be about how to prevent disasters.
Dr Tenner mentioned that playbooks are often not updated to take into account changing conditions such as the rise of social media influencers. When asked to name his favorite disaster, Dr. Tenner mentioned the Dutch Pilot who was handicapped by rules, the World Trade Center elevator "safety" devices which did not allow doors to be opened between floors, and the California fires where so much construction in fire-prone lands was landscaped with plants that easily burn.
Asked about rapid technological innovation such as AI, the Speaker said he was more concerned about the malicious use of AI than AI developing superhuman intelligence, and he recommended the book "Antisocial Experts" by Harry Collins.
When Dr. Tenner was asked how to get people to think about unthinkable topics, he confirmed the use of the Devil's Advocate and the Red Team/ Blue Team approaches but said there is no generally applicable theory, and pointed out that (1) who ultimately has to pay for a disaster may be relevant and (2) ultimately it is human intelligence that controls.
RESPECTIVELY SUBMITTED,
Kathryn Trenner