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Who was Isambard Kingdom Brunel?
Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806–1859) was an English engineer. He is famous for building tunnels, bridges and steamships, including the Great Britain, the world's first propeller-driven transatlantic steamship. He also built the Great Western Railway, connecting the west of England with London. Some of Brunel's tunnels and bridges were the longest in the world at the time. His ships were the largest and speediest.
Early life
Isambard's father, Sir Marc Isambard Brunel (1769–1849), was himself a famous engineer. French by birth, he settled in Britain after the French Revolution and married Englishwoman Sophia Kingdom. Isambard was born on 9th April 1806 in Portsea, Portsmouth, Hampshire. He was sent to school in France. He was 16 when he returned to England to work with his father on a tunnel under the River Thames. It was eventually completed in 1843.
Clifton Suspension Bridge
In 1831, a design competition was held for a bridge over the Avon Gorge in Bristol. Brunel presented a design for a bridge with a span of more than 210 metres (700 feet) and height above water of 75 metres (245 feet). Brunel—with a little persuasion of the judges—won the competition. Work started that year, but was stopped after riots in Bristol. Only the piers at each end were erected in Brunel's lifetime. The Clifton Suspension Bridge was completed in 1864. It is still in use as a road bridge today.
Great Western Railway
In 1833 Brunel was appointed chief engineer for the building of a railway linking London with Bristol, and later to Wales and southwest England. The building of the Great Western Railway (GWR), as it was named, required a number of tunnels, cuttings, bridges and viaducts to be built. They included the viaducts at Hanwell and Chippenham, the Maidenhead Bridge and the Box Tunnel (the longest railway tunnel in the world at the time).
Brunel also designed London Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads stations for the Great Western Railway. Both buildings still stand today.
Brunel built the GWR using a broad gauge (7 feet / 2.13 metres) instead of the standard 4 feet 8½ inches (1.49 metres), which had been used for other lines. But the government insisted the standard gauge should be used on all new lines.
Great Western
Brunel was in favour of a continuous transport link from London to New York. The first part would be by train on the Great Western Railway. The second part would be by steamship, also called the Great Western. Construction started on the ship, designed by Brunel, in Bristol in 1836. It was launched the following year. Built of wood, it had both sails and steam-powered paddlewheels. The first trip to New York took 15 days, half the time taken by sailing ships. The Great Western was the first steamship to enter transatlantic service.
Great Britain
Brunel immediately got to work on an even bigger ship. The Great Britain was made entirely of iron. To begin with, Brunel intended her to have paddlewheels like the Great Western. He later decided to attach a propeller instead. The Great Britain was launched in 1843. She was the first propeller-driven passenger ship made of iron to cross the Atlantic.
Great Eastern
Brunel then designed the biggest ship ever, the Great Eastern. It would be five times larger than any other ship ever made before, able to carry 4000 passengers. The ship would be large enough to carry fuel to reach Australia without refuelling. Construction began on the 211-metre (692-foot) Great Eastern in 1854. After several delays, she was ready for launch on her maiden voyage in September 1859.
Brunel died shortly after the launch of the Great Eastern, on 15th September 1859. She never carried 4000 passengers, nor was she the financial success Brunel hoped for. Instead, she was hired to carry telegraphic cable, which was to be laid on the Atlantic ocean floor from Ireland to Newfoundland. On 27th July 1866 the Great Eastern successfully completed this task.
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Isambard Kingdom Brunel
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