Isambard Ki
ngdom Brune
l
(Portsmouth,
Hampshire 1806 –
Westminster,
London 1859)
100 Greatest Britons (BBC’s public poll,
2002)
1. Winston Churchill
2. Isambard Kingdom Brunel
3. Princess Diana
4. Charles Darwin
5. William Shakespeare
6. Sir Isaac Newton
7. Queen Elizabeth I
8. John Lennon
9. Admiral Horatio Nelson
10. Oliver Cromwell
11. Sir Ernest Shackleton
…
18. Queen Victoria
24. Queen Elizabeth II
33. David Beckham
40. King Henry VIII
41. Charles Dickens
52. Florence Nightingale
57. Alexander Graham Bell
67. Tony Blair
83. J.K Rowling
Brunel is one of the most important
engineers of the Industrial Revolution,
having designed:
– Bridges
– Tunnels
– Viaducts
– Railways
– Steamships
– Dockyards
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
was born in 1806 in
Portsmouth, where his
father worked as an
engineer.
He taught his son
the principles of
engineering
before going to
school.
Paris: apprentice to
Abraham Breguet,
watchmaker and founder of
a luxury watch trademark.
When he was 17, Brunel
started to work in his
father's engineering office
in London.
First job in London with his father, building
the Thames Tunnel, first one under any
river in the world
After that, Brunel went to Bristol and won a competition to
build a bridge over the River Avon.
Clifton Suspension Bridge: longest bridge at the time
(214 m), and 76 meters above the river.
IDEA: FROM LONDON TO NEW YORK
TRAIN (London-Bristol) + SHIP (Bristol-N.Y.)
Brunel became Chief
Engineer of
The Great Western
Railway in 1833 and
… stations, such as Paddington
Station…
… viaducts, such as Wharncliffe
Viaduct,
the first one with an electric
telegraph…
… tunnels, such as the Box Tunnel, the
longest railway tunnel (2,95 km) in the
world at the time
Afterwards, Brunel formed the Great
Western Steamship Company and
had another IDEA:
“The largest the
ship, the less fuel
it requires,
proportionally.”
And, to prove it, he offered his services
for free…
…and designed
several innovative
ships:
The Great Western,
the longest ship in the world (more than 70
meters)
The Great Britain,
1st iron-hulled, propeller-driven ship to cross the
Atlantic Ocean
The Great Eastern,
the largest ship built until the start of the 20th
century
Brunel was asked to design and build
pre-fabricated hospitals to send to the
Crimean War
Died suffered a
stroke and died at
the age of 53, in
1859.
JANUARY 2019
