LYCOS RETRIEVER
Isambard Kingdom Brunel: Father
built 654 days ago
The only son of the engineer and inventor Sir Marc Isambard Brunel, he was appointed resident engineer when work on the Thames Tunnel began, under his father's direction, in 1825. He held the post until 1828, when
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Brunel was born in Portsmouth on April 9th 1806. He designed many bridges, tunnels, ships, viaducts and railways. His first major project was on the Thames Tunnel where he worked with his father Mark Brunel. It was nearly his last project as well, as during one serious inundation he was very lucky to escape with his life in a catastrophe that killed six miners.
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Isambard worked for nearly two years to create a tunnel under London's River Thames, with operatives driving a horizontal shaft from one side of the river to the other under the most difficult and dangerous conditions. Brunel's father, Marc, was the chief engineer, and the project was funded by the Thames Tunnel Company. The composition of the Thames river bed at Rotherhithe was often little more than waterlogged sediment and loose gravel, and although the extreme conditions proved the ingenuity of Brunel's tunnelling machine, the work was hard and hazardous. [9]
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All Isambard Kingdom's energy was devoted to maintaining the progress of the work, which was much appreciated by his father. Although his efforts gave concern to his father about his son' health.
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His father Marc Isambard (1769-1849) was born near Rouen but he was an outspoken critic of the French Revolution and was forced to flee Paris in 1793, escaping to America. Marc made his name as an architect and engineer in New York before moving to England in 1799.
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