Isambard Kingdom Brunel

British mechanical and civil engineer (1806-1859)

Isambard Kingdom Brunel (9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was an English engineer. He was born in Portsea, Portsmouth. He created the Great Western Railway. He built many steamships and many bridges and tunnels. His designs revolutionised public transport and modern engineering.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel

During his career, Brunel achieved many engineering "firsts". He assisted the building of the first tunnel under a large river. He designed the SS Great Britain, the first propeller-driven ocean-going iron ship, at the time (1843) the largest ship ever built.[1][2] He was the first designer of the Clifton Suspension Bridge. The bridge had a complicated history. It is a long bridge at a great height over the River Avon. Brunel died before the bridge was completed, and before the first voyage of his ship the SS Great Eastern.

The Clifton Suspension Bridge

References change

  1. Wilson, Arthur 1994. The living rock: the story of metals since earliest times and their impact on civilization. Woodhead Publishing, pp. 202–3. ISBN 978-1-85573-301-5
  2. "Isambard Kingdom Brunel". SS Great Britain. 29 March 2006. Archived from the original on 24 March 2010. Retrieved 15 June 2015.