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It was two hundred years ago on the 9th April 2006 that the engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel was born. The man who built Britain may have died almost a hundred and fifty years ago but his creations are still being used for what he originally built them for. He was born in Portsmouth England where his father was working at the time. His father Marc Isambard Brunel like him was an engineer and was French. His mother's maiden name was kingdom which explains his rather unusual name. Brunel was educated at the Lycee Henri - Quatre in Paris, France from the age of fourteen. He went onto the University of Caen in Normandy which also happened to be where his grandfather was from. When he was only twenty his father made him chief assistant engineer of the Thames Tunnel. This travels below the river between Rotherhithe and Wapping. Brunel's father had the brilliant idea of a tunnelling shield this machine would safe guard the men's well being shielding them from any cave - in that could occur. In those days the death rate on projects such as this was very high the process that he came up with is still used today albeit a little more high tech. The work was not without danger as the river bed was in a rather precarious state. Flooding did cause stoppages for a while one of which almost claimed the life of Brunel. He was knocked unconscious fortunately the water forced him up towards the end of the tunnel where one of his assistants pulled him out. He was badly hurt in the incident and the work was put on hold for a few years. But it was finished and is still in use as part of the London underground East London line.
Brunel's next project was bridges, the most famous of which is Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol. His inspiration for its design came from Egypt. A committee chaired by the stonemason, architect and civil engineer Thomas Telford would decide who would build the bridge. Brunel submitted four designs this would seem not only to give them a choice but would have given them an idea of his ability; it also gave Brunel a better chance of obtaining the project. Sadly he would never see his design come to fruition but his death sparked a desire for it to be built and thus honouring Brunel's work. Today it has thousands of vehicles going across it each day as apposed to the odd horse and cart and pedestrian. The widest, flattest brick arch bridge is the Maidenhead Railway Bridge and that is not just in England, that's the world. The Box Tunnel near Bath took five years to make it hollow using a massive amount of gunpowder in the process. The work again was extremely dangerous and many men lost their lives.
Brunel was made chief engineer in 1833 of the Great Western Railway which runs from London to Bristol. He made a broad gauge track of seven feet wide instead of the usual four feet (Standard gauge). This is so he could not only accommodate the large wheels but also make it easy to carry passengers. He also felt that it would enable it to be faster and a far more pleasant Journey. In 1836 he married Mary Horsley and they had two sons.
Brunel's final project was steamships, building the largest of its time then in the world the Great Western, it cut the journey from New York and back in half when it first sailed in 1837. Six years later the Great Britain which was even larger came along. She had an iron hull and a screw propeller a revolution back then. The ship did an excellent service but sadly ended up in the Falkland Islands where it was used for storage. But in 1970 she was brought back to Bristol, lovingly restored and sits in a dry dock for all to admire. Brunel then set about creating the Great Eastern which was twice the size of the Great Britain. This ship was designed to travel further a field to places like India and Australia. The problem was Brunel was way ahead of his time and not enough people wanted to travel to far off exotic places. Although it was not a success as a passenger ship it did have a value when it was used to help lay the Trans - Atlantic cable which gave Europe and America a telecommunications link. The only piece of the Great Eastern that remains is its flagpole which stands outside Liverpool Football Club. Brunel died of a stroke before the ship carried out its first journey. In 2002 he was voted the second greatest Britain after Winston Churchill.
It seems in the field of engineering nothing was beyond the capability of Isambard Kingdom Brunel. We live in an age where we have all the equipment and technology at our finger tips. Yet we are unable to create anything of any purpose, beauty or quality. In Britain alone there is a dodgy dome, a memorial to Diana Princess of Wales that is well- useless and a bridge that wobbled so much it had to close while the fault was corrected. The genius of Brunel seems to have died with him he didn't pass the baton on or if he did someone must have dropped it.
If you want to see Brunels creations then why not take the train from Paddington station (he built that too) and go to Bristol. Alternatively visit the web site www.brunel200.com other sites worth a visit are www.ssgreatbritain.org and
www.clifton-suspension-bridge.org.uk

© Children's Web Magazine 2006