Isambard Kingdom Brunel

Isambard Kingdom Brunel was one of the most influential and innovative engineers of the 19th century. He was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England on 9 April 1806, the only son of Sir Marc Isambard Brunel, a French engineer and inventor, and Sophia Kingdom, an English woman. He was educated by his father and learned drawing, geometry, and engineering principles from an early age. He also became fluent in French and English. At the age of 14, he was sent to France to study at the Lycée Henri-Quatre in Paris, where he excelled in mathematics and science. He returned to England in 1822 and joined his father in working on the Thames Tunnel, the first tunnel to run under a river. He became the resident engineer of the project in 1825 and was responsible for overseeing the construction and dealing with the frequent floods and accidents. He was seriously injured in 1828 when the tunnel was flooded and he was trapped for hours. He recovered and continued to work on the tunnel until it was completed in 1843. While working on the tunnel, Brunel also designed and built other engineering works, such as the Clifton Suspension Bridge over the Avon Gorge in Bristol, which was completed after his death, and the Bristol Docks, which improved the port facilities and trade. In 1833, he was appointed as the chief engineer of the Great Western Railway (GWR), which aimed to connect London and Bristol by rail. He designed and constructed the railway line, using a broad gauge of 7 feet (2.14 meters) instead of the standard gauge of 4 feet 8.5 inches (1.435 meters), which he believed would allow higher speeds and greater comfort. He also built many bridges, viaducts, and tunnels along the route, such as the Box Tunnel, the Maidenhead Railway Bridge, and the Royal Albert Bridge. He extended the GWR to South Wales and the West Country, and proposed to link it to North America by building steamships. Brunel was also a pioneer in marine engineering and shipbuilding. He designed and built three steamships that revolutionized naval transportation: the SS Great Western, the first purpose-built transatlantic steamship, which made its maiden voyage in 1838; the SS Great Britain, the first iron-hulled and propeller-driven steamship, which was launched in 1843 and was the largest ship in the world at the time; and the SS Great Eastern, the largest ship ever built until the 20th century, which was launched in 1858 and had a capacity of 4,000 passengers. Brunel also contributed to the Crimean War by designing the Renkioi Hospital, a prefabricated modular hospital that could be transported and assembled quickly. Brunel was a visionary and a perfectionist, who often faced challenges and criticisms from his contemporaries and the public. He was also a workaholic, who devoted his life to his engineering projects and neglected his health and family. He married Mary Elizabeth Horsley in 1836 and had three children, two of whom became engineers as well. He suffered from various illnesses and injuries throughout his life, and died of a stroke on 15 September 1859, at the age of 53, shortly after the launch of the Great Eastern. He was buried in the family vault at Kensal Green Cemetery in London. He was widely mourned and celebrated as one of the greatest engineers of his era and of all time. He left behind a legacy of engineering achievements that are still admired and used today.