ヘンリー・ペトロスキー（Henry Petroski, 1942年2月6日 - 2023年6月14日）は、アメリカ合衆国の工学者、デューク大学教授。専門は土木工学、失敗学。

鉛筆やクリップなどのインダストリアルデザインの研究で知られる。雑誌『アメリカン・サイエンティスト』 (en) やアメリカ工学教育協会会誌 (en) の常連寄稿者。

人物
ニューヨーク・ブルックリン区に生まれ、クイーンズ区で育つ。1963年マンハッタン・カレッジ卒業、1968年イリノイ大学で理論力学および応用力学の分野で博士号取得。1968-74年テキサス大学オースティン校、1975-80年アルゴンヌ国立研究所に勤め、1980年からデューク大学教授。

2004年、米国放射性廃棄物技術審査委員会（United States Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board、NWTRB）に任命、2008年に再任。

クラークソン大学 (en) 、トリニティ・カレッジ、ヴァルパライソ大学 (en) から名誉学位を授与された。テキサス州で技術士登録。アメリカ芸術科学アカデミー、全米技術アカデミー会員。

2023年6月14日に死去。81歳没。

著書 
邦訳
 『人はだれでもエンジニア—失敗はいかに成功のもとになるか』北村美都穂訳、鹿島出版会、1988
 『鉛筆と人間』渡辺潤・岡田朋之訳、晶文社、1993
 『フォークの歯はなぜ四本になったか—実用品の進化論』忠平美幸訳、平凡社、1995、のち平凡社ライブラリー 
 『橋はなぜ落ちたのか—設計の失敗学』、中島秀人・綾野博之訳、朝日選書、2001
 『ゼムクリップから技術の世界が見える アイデアが形になるまで』忠平美幸訳、朝日選書、2003
 『本棚の歴史』池田栄一訳 白水社、2004
 『もっと長い橋、もっと丈夫なビル—未知の領域に挑んだ技術者たちの物語』松浦俊輔訳、朝日選書、2006
 『失敗学 デザイン工学のパラドクス』北村美都穂訳、青土社、2007
 『〈使い勝手〉のデザイン学』忠平美幸訳、朝日選書、2008

洋書
 To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design (1985), 
 Beyond Engineering: Essays and Other Attempts to Figure without Equations (1986), 
 The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance (1990), 
 The Evolution of Useful Things (1992), 
 Design Paradigms: Case Histories of Error and Judgment in Engineering (1994), 
 Engineers of Dreams: Great Bridge Builders and The Spanning of America (1995), 
 Invention by Design: How Engineers Get from Thought to Thing (1996), 
 Remaking the World: Adventures in Engineering (1997), 
 The Book on the Bookshelf (1999), 
 Paperboy: Confessions of a Future engineer (2002), 
 Small Things Considered: Why There Is No Perfect Design (2003), 
 Pushing the Limits: New Adventures in Engineering (2004), 
 Success Through Failure: The Paradox of Design. (2006), 
 The Toothpick: Technology and Culture. (2007), 
 The Essential Engineer: Why Science Alone Will Not Solve Our Global Problems. (2010), 
 The Engineer's Alphabet: Gleanings from the Softer Side of a Profession. (2011), 
 To Forgive Design: Understanding Failure. (2012), 
 The House with Sixteen Handmade Doors: A Tale of Architectural Choice and Craftsmanship. (2014), 
 The Road Taken: The History and Future of America's Infrastructure. (2016), 

記事
 "Engineering: Scientific Status," in Modern Scientific Evidence, 2002, vol. 3, part 3, pp. 14–54.
 "The Origins, Founding, and Early Years of the American Society of Civil Engineers: A Case Study in Successful Failure Analysis," in American Civil Engineering History: The Pioneering Years, B. G. Dennis, Jr., et al., editors, Proceedings of the Fourth National Congress on Civil Engineering History and Heritage, ASCE Annual Meeting, November 2–6, 2002, pp. 57–66.
 The Importance of Engineering History," International Engineering History and Heritage: Improving Bridges to ASCE's 150th Anniversary, Jerry R. Rogers and Augustine J. Fredrich, editors. History Congress proceedings, American Society of Civil Engineers, Houston, Texas, October 2001, pp. 1-7.
 "Reference Guide on Engineering Practice and Methods," in Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence, 2nd edition, Washington, D.C.: Federal Judicial Center, 2000. pp. 577–624.
 "The Britannia Tubular Bridge: A Paradigm of Failure-Driven Design," reprinted in Structural and Civil Engineering Design, William Addis, ed. Aldershot, Hampshire: Ashgate Publishing Ltd., 1999, pp. 313–24.
 "Polishing the Gem: A First-Year Design Project," :en:Journal of Engineering Education, October 1998, pp. 445–49.
 "Drink Me, How Americans came to have cup holders in their cars", Slate Magazine,  March 15, 2004
 "Stick Figure, The marketing genius who brought us the toothpick", Slate Magazine,  Oct. 31, 2007
 "Infrastructure," American Scientist, September–October 2009, pp. 370–74.
 "Bridging the Gap," New York Times Magazine, June 14, 2009, pp. 11–12.
 "Want to Engineer Real Change? Don’t Ask a Scientist," Washington Post, Outlook Section, January 25, 2009, p. B4.
 "Calder as Artist-Engineer: Vectors, Velocities," in Alexander Calder: The Paris Years, 1926–1933, ed. Joan Simon and Brigitte Leal (New York, Paris, and New Haven: Whitney Museum of American Art, Centre Pompidou, and Yale University Press, 2008), pp. 178–83.
 "The Importance of Civil Engineering History," Proceedings, International Civil Engineering History Symposium, Canadian Society for Civil Engineering, Toronto, June 2–4, 2005, pp. 3–8.
 "The Evolution of Useful Things: Success through Failure," Proceedings of the Design History Society Conference on Design and Evolution, Delft, The Netherlands, August 3-September 2, 2006. In CD format.
 "An American Perspective on Telford," The 250th Anniversary of the Birth of Thomas Telford: Collected Papers from a Commemorative Conference Held on 2 July 2007, Royal Society of Edinburgh, pp. 44–46.
 "Foot in Mouth: The Toothpick’s Surprising Debt to the Shoe," Huntington Frontiers, Spring/Summer 2007, pp. 22–24.
 "What’s in a Nametag?" American Scientist, July–August 2007, pp. 304–08.
 "The Paradox of Failure," Los Angeles Times, August 4, 2007, p. A17.
 "Success and Failure: Two Faces of Design," The Bent of :en:Tau Beta Pi, Fall 2007, pp. 27–30.
 "Picky, Picky, Picky," Los Angeles Times, October 30, 2007, p. A23.
 "The Glorious Toothpick," The American, November/December 2007, pp. 76–80.