Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-1859), English civil engineer.

Born on April 9th, 1804, his father was the engineer Sir Marc Isambard Brunel. The young Brunel was educated at the College of Cean in Normandy and the Lyc�e Henri-Quatre in Paris. Aged 20, he was appointed resident engineer on his father's greatest achievement, the Thames Foot Tunnel, the first major river tunnel ever constructed.

He is best know for his work in the construction of the Great Western Railway, initially running from London to Bristol, but soon extended to Exeter, where he took the controversial decision to adopt a 7ft .25inch (2.14 metre) broad guage. He also worked on several bridges, including the Hungerford Bridge and designed Bristol's Clifton Suspension Bridge which was completed after his death. He devoted much work to the design of big guns and designed the floating battery used in the 1854 attacks on Kronstadt.

Brunel also designed and constructed ocean-going steamships, abandoning the paddle wheels of the time and adopting the new screw propeller.

He was one of the promoters of the Great Exhibition of 1851.

Brunel suffered a stroke from which he never recovered shortly before his ship the Great Eastern was to make its first voyage to New York. He died ten days later, on September 15th, 1859 and, like his father, is buried at London's Kensal Green Cemetery.

Cornwall
  Royal Albert Bridge Considered Brunel's greatest railway work because of the difficuty of its construction

Devon
  Royal Albert Bridge

Wiltshire
  Box Railway Tunnel

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1804.Apr.09		Birth of English engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel
1836		Work starts on the 2-mile-long Box Railway Tunnel of the GWR between Corsham Box in Wiltshire The longest railway tunnel in Europe at the time
1841.Jun.30		Opening of the record-breaking 2-mile-long Box Railway Tunnel of the GWR between Corsham and Box in Wiltshire without any ceremony because of the horendous loss of life during its construction
1851		The Great Exhibition
1854		Brunel\'s floating battery used in attacks on Kronstadt
1858.Jan.31		Brunel\'s ship the Leviathan (later named Great Eastern) floated onto the Thames by the tide 3 months after its launch was first attempted
1859.May.03		Brunel\'s Royal Albert Bridge linking Saltash in Cornwall to Plymouth in Devon opened by Prince Albert
1859.Sep.15		Death of English engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel

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