The Era of the Slide Rule episode artwork

EPISODE · Feb 24, 2026 · 6 MIN

The Era of the Slide Rule

from Intellectually Curious · host Mike Breault

A journey from Napier’s logarithms to the Apollo era, exploring how the slide rule powered engineers for generations. Learn how sliding two rulers turns multiplication into addition, why the decimal point was a human judgment, and how magnitude intuition kept rockets on course. Meet Napier, Otridge, von Braun, and the HP-35 as we trace the bridge from the Industrial Revolution to the Space Age—and how digital tools built on that analog heritage continue shaping engineering today.Note:  This podcast was AI-generated, and sometimes AI can make mistakes.  Please double-check any critical information.Sponsored by Embersilk LLC

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Feb 24, 2026

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The Era of the Slide Rule

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