LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Isambard Kingdom Brunel: Great Eastern
built 627 days ago
Isambard Kingdom Brunel was a true genius of the Industrial Age, whose vision and daring produced some of the greatest engineering wonders of Victorian Britain. To mark the 200th anniversary of Brunel’s birth Royal Mail worked with eminent Brunel historians to select six examples from his incredible portfolio of work.
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On 9th April 1806, Isambard Kingdom Brunel was born to Anglo-Gallic parents at 1 Britain Street, close to today’s Gunwharf Quays development. Like Charles Dickens, who was born six years later only a kilometre or so away, Brunel left the city as a child and had little to do with the place thereafter; in later life his engineering designs and constructions changed the Victorian landscape forever, he was one of the people who made Britain ’Great’, and his engineering legacy remains unchallenged to this day. Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson spent his last night in Britain at The George Hotel on Portsmouth’s High Street; the date was 13th September 1805, the eve of his departure from Portsmouth for Cape Trafalgar and only 200 days before the nearby birth of Brunel. Nelson’s remains, encased in a barrel of rum, returned to Portsmouth on 4th December 1805 aboard HMS Victory, the ship that is the greatest asset of Portsmouth today.
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Isambard Kingdom Brunel is widely regarded as Britain's greatest engineer. To celebrate the 200th anniversary of his birth, this special exhibition at the Science Museum uses historic artefacts and a collection of photos to explore Brunel's last project - the immense steamship Great Eastern.
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In 1852 Isambard Kingdom Brunel was employed by the Eastern Steam Navigation Company to build another steamship, the Great Eastern. Built on the Thames, the ship had an iron hull and two paddle wheels. The Great Eastern was extremely large and was designed to carry 4,000 passengers. Brunel was faced with a series of difficult engineering problems to overcome on this project and the strain of the work began to affect his health. While watching the Great Eastern in her trials, Brunel suffered a seizure. He died in London on 15th September, 1859. On that day the world lost one of its truly great engineering masters. He was buried at Kensal Green cemetery five days later.
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Brunel was born in Portsmouth, the son of Sir Marc Isambard Brunel. He was elected to the Royal Society in 1830 at the age of 24. In 1833 he was made chief engineer for the Great Western Railway. He designed the Great Western (1837), the Great Britain (1845) and the Great Eastern (1858) steamships, each of which were the largest in the world at the time of their launch. He died in London on 15 September 1859.
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At 27 years if age in March 1833, Isambard Brunel was appointed chief engineer of the Great Western Railway. His work on the line that linked London to Bristol, helped to establish Brunel as one of the world's leading engineers. Impressive achievements on the route included the viaducts at Hanwell and Chippenham, the Maidenhead Bridge, the Box Tunnel and the Bristol Temple Meads Station. Controversially, Brunel used the broad gauge (2.2 m) instead of the standard gauge (1.55m) on the line. This created problems as passengers had to transfer trains at places such as Gloucester where the two gauges met.
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