Isambard Kingdom Brunel

Isambard Kingdom Brunel. . , Isambard Kingdom Brunel was born in nearby Britain Street, Portsea, Portsmouth on 9 April 1806. His father, Marc, a French Refugee, and English mother Sophia, were living in Portsmouth while Marc supervised the installation of his machines for making ships’ blocks in the Dockyard. These were the first all metal machine tools in the world. The Block Mills building, containing much of Brunel’s machinery, still exists in Portsmouth Dockyard. , , Injured on his father’s troubled Thames Tunnel, he convalesced in Bristol where he won a competition to design the Clifton Suspension Bridge. In 1833 he was appointed engineer to the great Western Railway, linking London to Bristol. His achievements include three steamships of revolutionary design , the Great Western, the Great Britain and the Great Eastern , 25 railway lines, 8 piers and docks, The Royal Albert Bridge across the River Tamar and over 100 other bridges and a pre-fabricated hospital for use in the Crimean War. Brunel’s death in 1859 was brought on by over work.