How to Pronounce Isambard Kingdom Brunel
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Apr 09, 1806 Portsmouth, England, United Kingdom Died on 15 Sep 1859 (aged 53)
English mechanical and civil engineer
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Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Family, Facts, Age, Net Worth, Biography and More in FamedBorn.com
About Isambard Kingdom Brunel
- Isambard Kingdom Brunel (; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was a British civil engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history", "one of the 19th-century engineering giants", and "one of the greatest figures of the Industrial Revolution, [who] changed the face of the English landscape with his groundbreaking designs and ingenious constructions".
- Brunel built dockyards, the Great Western Railway, a series of steamships including the first propeller-driven transatlantic steamship, and numerous important bridges and tunnels.
- His designs revolutionised public transport and modern engineering. Though Brunel's projects were not always successful, they often contained innovative solutions to long-standing engineering problems.
- During his career, Brunel achieved many engineering firsts, including assisting in the building of the first tunnel under a navigable river and development of SS Great Britain, the first propeller-driven, ocean-going, iron ship, which, when built in 1843, was the largest ship ever built.Brunel set the standard for a well-built railway, using careful surveys to minimise gradients and curves.
- This necessitated expensive construction techniques, new bridges, new viaducts, and the two-mile (3.2 km) long Box Tunnel.
- One controversial feature was the wide gauge, a "broad gauge" of 7 ft 1/4 in (2,140 mm), instead of what was later to be known as "standard gauge" of 4 ft 8 1/2 in (1,435 mm).
- He astonished Britain by proposing to extend the Great Western Railway westward to North America by building steam-powered, iron-hulled ships.
- He designed and built three ships that revolutionised naval engineering: the SS Great Western (1838), the SS Great Britain (1843), and the SS Great Eastern (1859). In 2002, Brunel was placed second in a BBC public poll to determine the "100 Greatest Britons".
- In 2006, the bicentenary of his birth, a major programme of events celebrated his life and work under the name Brunel 200.
