The endless curiosity ofMarshall Brainhelped educate , inform and pep up countless students , entrepreneurs and WWW surfboarder for decades before Brain ’s expiry on November 20 , 2024 .
The popularity of HowStuffWorks led Brain to avail produce two tv set platform for the National Geographic channel about the mass output of various intersection . Brain also pen books and gave speeches thefuture of robotics , the macrocosm of Godandthe meaning of life , amongst other thought experimentation .
In accession to his success in data processor programming and media , Brain was the theater director of the Engineering Entrepreneurs Program at North Carolina State University .
Brain , who lived in Cary , North Carolina , is survived by his married woman , Leigh Ann and their four baby .
Marshall Brain’s Origin Story
Marshall Brain II was born in Santa Monica , California , on May 17 , 1961 . Brain ’s father worked in the aerospace industry , creating components for moon rockets , inspiring his Logos ’s lifelong fascination with technology .
learning ability receive a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy , New York , and a master of science degree in computer science from North Carolina State University ( NCSU ) .
He teach in the calculator skill division at NCSU from 1986 until 1992 . Brain also created a computer consulting firm and wrote several programming manuals in the 1990s .
In 1998 , Brain created HowStuffWorks.com . The website , which Brain started as a hobby , furnish well-fixed - to - understand explanation of the workings on a wide chain of mountains of construct , nomenclature and mechanisms — everything fromeasy household repairsto howsubmarineswork — which provided Brain with a measureless originative project .
" I wanted to do something incremental , and write these articles without writing a Bible , " Brain said during aninterview on the " Friendly Atheist " podcast . " The first [ clause ] was abouthow car engines work , and I put it out and no one give care . It was n’t until I put out about 20 of them that anybody give care . And then it started to become pop . It turn out that there are millions of the great unwashed who are interested in how thing bring and [ the website ] kind of caught that vibe . "
HowStuffWorks rapidly grew in its scope , and Brain said it became the act one situation for " yard and K entries , " thanks to link from Google and other search engines .
" The cyberspace was a raw place , and people found [ HowStuffWorks.com ] and it was the right place at the good meter , " said Brain . " The way search engines work , there are a jillion links into it . That is like a bequest that it will have forever . "
In 2002 , Brain sell HowStuffWorks to the ConvexGroup , an Atlanta - based investment group created by the founder of WebMD . In 2007 , Discovery Communications purchased HowStuffWorks for $ 250 million .
Media Attention and Exposure
The achiever of HowStuffWorks made Brain a democratic guest on a range of medium chopine , including " The Oprah Winfrey Show , " " Good Morning America " and " CNN . "
TV Series
" mill Floor with Marshall Brain " and " Who Knew ? with Marshall Brain " essay the manner mass - get products are consider , designed and manufactured . Tennis orchis , beer and other product receive elaborate coverage on the show .
Novels and Nonfiction
Brain wrote more than a 12 books outside of the HowStuffWorks brand .
Publishing as a Parent
A devoted parent , Brain published books from that perspective . His 2013 e - book , " 50 matter That Can vote down Your Child and How To Avoid All of Them " addresses the dangers that children face — withdraw an supernumerary - strength Tylenol or a cigaret cigarette off the pavement — and informs readers about continue children safe .
The 1997 book " The Teenager ’s Guide to the Real World " expect at the choices vernal people make that may affect them for their entire lives and offer advice to parents about guiding their kids through these plastic years . The account book has gone through 10 printings and was pick out by the New York Public Library ’s " Books for the Teen Age " lean .
‘How God Works’ and the Power of Atheism
Some of Brain ’s most provocative work inspired his writing about religion and the world of supernatural king . A dear atheist , Brain put out the book " How ' God ' work : A Logical Inquiry on Faith " in 2015 to challenge the debate about the existence of a higher power .
" How ' God ' Works " followed the attention Brain received from his website , Why Wo n’t God Heal Amputees ? , which asked readers to contemplate whether God is literal or fanciful , if prayer really works , and examined how religion works around the world . Brain was pleased that his oeuvre inspired countless online debates about the macrocosm of God , after the issue of his free website .
Brain also gave impassioned TED Talks about subject include the inevitableimpacts of globular warmingand themeaning of lifetime . In the latter treatment , Brain summarized his noble-mindedness for the human race :
Engineering Entrepreneurs Program
In 2012 - 2024 , Brain was the director of the Engineering Entrepreneurs Program at North Carolina State University . The syllabus did not focalise on website or app ontogenesis , but encouraged engineering students to produce and promote inventions that might change the macrocosm and then promote them to as large an audience as possible .
One innovation that add up from the labor was theUndercover Colors intersection , a line of nail polishes that can be dipped into a drink to see if the beverage has been foul with particular date rape drug .
Campus Controversy and Brain’s Death
Brain ’s dying by suicide on November 20 , 2024 , occurred just time of day after he sent alengthy emailto friends and colleagues at North Carolina State University .
mind was responding to a recent promulgation by the schooltime that he was retiring at the end of the year . Brain claimed that he was being hale out by the great power that be after he had reported error , and that he was sack by the college on October 29 , 2024 .
hour after he sent the electronic mail , Brain ’s married woman bespeak a welfare impediment , and campus police happen Brain unresponsive in his authority .
Amemorial servicewas hold up on December 8 , and dozens of former bookman and colleague have posted emotional messages in an online obit for Brain . A Charles William Post on the North Carolina State University websiteincluded messages from longtime colleagues .
" Marshall had a unique gift for excuse complicated theory and devices in ways that anyone could empathize , " said Louis Martin - Vega , Dean Emeritus , North Carolina State University College of Engineering . " He was an incredible teacher and mentor who inspired so many students to think outside the boxful and to believe in their ideas and entrepreneurial abilities . "
Tom Miller , founder of the Engineering Entrepreneurs Program and a Distinguished Professor Emeritus , memorialized Brain as well :
