Europe - 19th Century Architecture, Individual Architects, Designers, & Planners, Victorian & Edwardian Period Architecture, Shipbuilding & Engineering, Engineers - Biography

Brunel

Name: Brunel
Author: Annabel Gillings
ISBN: 9781904950448

by Annabel Gillings

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Overview

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. The Great Western, a wooden paddle steamer, was the first steamship to be build specifically for the Atlantic; she made her inaugural crossing in 1838 in 15 days (the small Sirius had been by a whisker the first to steam across, reaching New York the previous day after a journey of 19 days). The iron-hulled Great Britain was launched in Bristol in 1843 and is now back there. The Great Eastern (1858) was a monster which almost literally killed Brunel. It was another half century before any ship exceeded her length of 211m or her displacement of 22,500 tons. She proved almost impossible to launch and then had an unsatisfactory career crossing the Atlantic (so much coal had to be carried that there was insufficient room for the intended 4000 passengers). She only came into her own when laying the Transatlantic telegraph cable in 1865. Brunelwas spared the pain of much of this saga; he suffered a stroke on board the ship just before her maiden voyage.

Synopsis

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.

About the Author, Annabel Gillings

Annabel Gillings is a producer of the BBC Horizon programme series, most recently for the Horizon special on SARS. She also produced the TV series 'What the Victorians Did for Us' (2001). She has written widely, including an article for the magazine Prospect on 'Genes and Behaviour'.