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MAKING THE MODERN WORLD
Stories about the lives we've made
 
people:Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Born: 9 April 1806, Portsmouth, England
Died: 15 September 1859, London, England

picture zoom © National Railway Museum/Science and Society Picture Library

British-born engineer.

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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The Heroic Age
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The workshop of the world
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Beam calculations
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Bridges
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Location of the textiles industries
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The growth of the railways
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Model of the paddle engines of the Great Eastern, 1853
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Samuel Smiles and legends
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