TOP 11 INVENTORS OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

Isambard Kingdom Brunel

BEST KNOWN FOR: Great Western Railway, SS Great Britain

One of the most recognisable figures of the Industrial Revolution, Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806–59) was a prolific engineer who created everything from bridges and ships to railways.

Born in Portsmouth, Brunel began his career during the 1820s, when he assisted his father, Marc, during the construction of the Thames Tunnel – the world’s first tunnel to be built underneath a navigable river. In 1831, he won a contest to design a bridge over Bristol’s Avon Gorge (see page 40), before embarking on a project to connect London and Bristol by rail. Completed in 1841, Brunel’s Great Western Railway not only boasted 116 miles of track, but numerous bridges, viaducts, and the iconic Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads railway stations.

Brunel also saw the maritime potential of steam technology, designing the SS (1838), the world’s(launched in 1843), the world’s first iron-hulled, propeller-driven steamship.