Iron Man, the alter-ego of Tony Stark, is a Marvel Comics superhero created out of pure engineering. The character makes a perfect idol in today's world of gadget-obsessed generation. Who doesn't like a cool suit that lets you fly, fire missiles and makes a phone call at the same time? His house(and the basement lab) is an engineer's dream - an intelligent, bachelor's pad with a computer that talks, and probably passed the Turing Test, plus robots working hand-in-hand with him while working on a weekend project.
I can't help of thinking that the movie gave the engineering discipline its due credit. As an engineer, I have my fair share of failed prototypes, hours of meticulous work with the soldering iron, the dedication and passion to see it get it working, and finally put on a big, proud smile when the "baby" is up and running. Engineering never looked so cool since Macgyver(Oops...now you've guessed my age).
Can this movie re-ignite the declining interests of math, science and engineering among our younger generation? I am sure it will spark a few curious minds and inspire them to dig deeper about the possibility of the technology(link). Indeed it is a serious issue. Recently, it is cited by Bill Gates in his speech at the House Science and Tech Committee on its 50th Anniversary(link) and in a BBC article(link). What do you think?
Oh yeah, go watch the movie... it's really a great start to this year's summer of blockbluster movies. We had Spider-Man, X-Men and Batman. This year, and I quote from Tony, "It's my turn".
