Brunel (Life & Times)

Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-59) was the outstanding example of an entrepreneurial Victorian engineer, seen at his most memorable in front of the chains used to launch the Great Eastern. His father, the French-born engineer Marc Isambard Brunel (1769-1849), invented the tunnelling shield and with it constructed the world's first underwater tunnel, 366m long, under the Thames between Wapping and Rotherhithe; it is still in use as part of London's underground. The younger Brunel was appointed resident engineer of the project at the age of 19. In 1833, when he was 27, he became chief engineer to the Great Western railway, building the line from Paddington to Bristol. His design for the new Clifton suspension bridge and had been accepted in 1831. The boldest of his many endeavours were his three great ships, each the largest in the world when launched.