Isambard Kingdom Brunel Biography

Isambard Kingdom Brunel is born in Portsea, Portsmouth, the son of engineer Marc Isambard Brunel and Sophia Kingdom.

By the age of eight Brunel has learned Euclidean geometry and shows strong ability in mathematics and mechanics.

At the age of fourteen Brunel begins advanced studies at the Henri Quatre college in Caen.

Brunel develops advanced mathematical and drawing skills during his education in France.

Brunel continues technical studies in Paris before entering practical engineering work.

Brunel studies precision engineering and horology under the celebrated clockmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet.

Brunel gains precision engineering experience in Abraham-Louis Breguet's workshop.

Brunel continues his mathematical education at the Lycee Henri-IV in Paris.

Brunel is ruled ineligible for admission to the Ecole Polytechnique because he is a foreign national.

Brunel completes his education in France and returns to England to begin his engineering career.

Brunel becomes an assistant to his father and gains practical experience on a range of engineering proposals.

Brunel and his father experiment with a high-pressure gas engine as an alternative to conventional steam power.

Brunel works with his father on the shield system used for the Thames Tunnel.

Brunel joins the Thames Tunnel project after his father is appointed engineer for the crossing beneath the River Thames.

Brunel serves as assistant engineer under resident engineer John Armstrong during the early tunnel works.

Construction of the Thames Tunnel begins ceremonially and Brunel lays the second brick after his father.

Brunel takes over as resident engineer of the Thames Tunnel after John Armstrong resigns through illness.

Brunel becomes resident engineer after John Armstrong resigns because of illness and exhaustion.

Brunel uses diving equipment and surface inspections to locate and repair the breach above the flooded tunnel.

Brunel assumes full responsibility for directing the engineering work inside the Thames Tunnel.

The River Thames breaks into the tunnel and Brunel helps evacuate the workers before directing repairs to the breach.

A banquet is held inside the Thames Tunnel to demonstrate confidence in the pioneering construction project.

While recovering from his tunnel injuries Brunel develops ideas for a suspension bridge across the Avon Gorge.

Brunel leaves the Thames Tunnel project because his injuries prevent him from continuing as resident engineer.

Brunel is pulled from the flooded tunnel after being trapped by timber and swept through the workings.

A major tunnel flood kills six workers and seriously injures Brunel, forcing him to withdraw from the project.

Enters the competition while still a young independent engineer.

Brunel submits designs to the competition for a suspension bridge across the Avon Gorge at Clifton.

Submits designs to the first Clifton Suspension Bridge competition.

Brunel becomes an associate member of the Institution of Civil Engineers.

Submits revised designs in the second competition for a bridge across the Avon Gorge.

Brunel continues promoting his Avon Gorge design after Thomas Telford rejects the first competition entries and proposes his own bridge.

Brunel is elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in recognition of his scientific and engineering promise.

Brunel is appointed engineer to Bristol Docks and begins improving the harbour's engineering works.

Brunel estimates the suspension bridge project at about fifty-seven thousand pounds, including architectural treatment of the towers.

Brunel's accepted scheme uses a main suspension span of about 214 metres across the Avon Gorge.

Brunel secures acceptance of his revised suspension bridge design and becomes project engineer.

Work begins on the Clifton Suspension Bridge, one of Brunel's earliest major independent projects.

Brunel is appointed engineer for the Clifton Suspension Bridge after his revised design is selected.

A ceremony marks the start of construction and work begins on the Clifton side of the gorge.

Construction is halted after the Bristol riots damage confidence and stop subscriptions to the bridge company.

Brunel designs a deep scouring sluice to draw accumulated silt from the harbour into the tidal River Avon.

Brunel designs three shallow sluices to regulate the water level within Bristol's Floating Harbour.

Brunel investigates the severe accumulation of mud and silt affecting shipping in Bristol's Floating Harbour.

Brunel recommends a dredging drag boat to scrape mud from the quay walls toward the harbour's scouring sluice.

Brunel meets Mary Elizabeth Horsley through his friendship with his brother-in-law Benjamin Hawes.

Brunel surveys the proposed Great Western Railway route on horseback and negotiates with landowners.

Brunel completes an intensive survey of the proposed London-to-Bristol railway and presents a route engineered for speed and gentle gradients.

Brunel is appointed engineer for the proposed railway between Bristol and London.

The proposed Great Western Railway route between Bristol and London is formally announced.

Brunel argues for a railway kept as level and straight as practicable so trains can run faster and more efficiently.

Brunel promotes the seven-foot broad gauge as a means of providing stability, speed and passenger comfort.

Parliament authorises the Great Western Railway and allows construction of Brunel's London to Bristol route.

Brunel proposes extending the Great Western transport system from Bristol to New York by steamship.

Parliament authorises construction of the Great Western Railway between London and Bristol.

The Great Western Steamship Company is formed to develop Brunel's transatlantic steamship plan.

Brunel begins sinking exploratory shafts to examine the geology along the proposed route through Box Hill.

Brunel adopts a broad railway gauge of seven feet and one quarter inch for the Great Western Railway.

Brunel's broad gauge determines the generous track widths and spans required for many early Great Western bridges.

Construction resumes after renewed commercial confidence brings further investment to the project.

Construction of the London-to-Bristol main line proceeds through multiple major contracts under Brunel's overall engineering direction.

The viaduct becomes an early showpiece of Brunel's railway engineering.

Large-scale construction begins on Brunel's Great Western Railway between London and Bristol.

Brunel surveys a railway route between Exeter and Plymouth that later becomes the South Devon Railway.

Extends his railway engineering work into industrial South Wales.

Is appointed engineer for the Taff Vale Railway project.

Directs construction of the Wharncliffe Viaduct for the Great Western Railway.

Brunel proposes marriage to Mary Elizabeth Horsley during a family walk in London.

Brunel marries Mary Elizabeth Horsley and later establishes a home and office in Westminster.

Construction restarts with the foundation stone for the Leigh Woods abutment laid on the western side of the gorge.

The main contractors fail financially, but the bridge towers are raised in unfinished stone.

The structure is the first major engineering work completed on the GWR.

William Patterson's Bristol yard constructs Brunel's large wooden paddle steamship for the Great Western Steamship Company.

Brunel becomes a full member of the Institution of Civil Engineers.

The Wharncliffe Viaduct becomes the first major completed structure on Brunel's Great Western Railway.

Completes the Wharncliffe Viaduct on the Great Western Railway.

The wooden paddle steamship SS Great Western is launched at Bristol under Brunel's direction.

The structure reflects Brunel's broad-gauge railway design.

Designs the sharply skewed Dumb Bell Bridge beneath the Great Western Railway.

The bridge preserves Brunel's early broad-gauge engineering approach.

The work is among Brunel's earliest iron bridge designs.

The first working section of the Great Western Railway demonstrates Brunel's broad-gauge track and early bridge designs.

The bridge forms part of Brunel's first London-to-Maidenhead contracts.

Early plans for Brunel's second major steamship envisage a wooden paddle vessel initially called City of New York.

Many booked passengers cancel after the fire, leaving only a small number aboard when Great Western departs for New York.

Completes the Leigh Road overbridge on the early Great Western Railway.

Construction of Brunel's low-arched brick railway bridge across the Thames is completed.

Completes an early Great Western Railway overbridge at Middlegreen Road.

Designs an early iron bridge across the Paddington Arm of the canal.

Completes the St Mary's Road bridge on the Great Western Railway.

Solves a difficult road crossing with an ingenious skew arch.

SS Great Western completes an early sea trial before beginning her first Atlantic service.

Brunel is injured after falling about twenty feet during the confusion surrounding the Great Western engine-room fire.

An engine-room fire breaks out as Great Western prepares for her maiden Atlantic voyage but is extinguished with limited ship damage.

SS Great Western departs Bristol on her first Atlantic voyage to New York.

SS Great Western reaches New York and demonstrates the commercial practicality of regular steamship crossings.

The first public section of the Great Western Railway opens between Paddington and Maidenhead.

The first temporary Great Western Railway terminus at Paddington opens for services between London and Maidenhead.

Work begins on Box Tunnel through Box Hill for the Great Western Railway.

The Tudor-Gothic bridge forms part of Brunel's Bristol-Bath railway works.

Completes Brook Road Bridge for the Great Western Railway near Bath.

Supports installation of electric telegraph wires beside the Great Western Railway.

Brunel successfully defends his engineering decisions when dissatisfied shareholders attempt to remove him from the railway project.

Brunel and the building committee recommend changing the new steamship from wood to iron construction.

The Paddington-West Drayton link becomes an early commercial telegraph installation.

Brunel develops the masonry viaduct carrying the Great Western Railway across the River Avon in Wiltshire.

Maidenhead Railway Bridge opens to traffic and vindicates Brunel's unusually flat arch design.

Construction begins on Brunel's iron-hulled transatlantic steamship SS Great Britain.

Difficult rock strata and heavy water ingress delay excavation, with less than half of the tunnel completed.

Brunel studies Francis Pettit Smith's screw-propelled Archimedes during trials and demonstrations at Bristol.

The crossing carries the Great Western Railway through the city.

Designs the skew bridge immediately west of Bath Spa station.

A Brunel-designed accommodation bridge is completed on the Challow to Wootton Bassett section of the Great Western Railway.

Brunel's stone culvert over By Brook is completed as part of the Great Western route through the Box area.

The limestone bridge uses Brunel's characteristic elliptical arch.

The Copperhouse Foundry at Hayle receives the contract to manufacture suspension chains for Brunel's Clifton bridge.

The structure carries Brunel's Great Western route through central Bath.

Completes the original Gatehampton Viaduct across the River Thames.

The steamship directors accept Brunel's recommendation and approve converting the vessel to screw propulsion.

Designs a Great Western Railway bridge near Saltford.

Designs an accommodation bridge south of Kemble for the railway.

The bridge forms part of Brunel's Bristol-to-Bath railway section.

The viaduct forms part of the pioneering Great Western main line.

Completes the original Moulsford Viaduct across the Thames.

Designs the Great Western Railway crossing over the River Chew.

The masonry structure belongs to the pioneering Bristol-Bath section.

Completes the skew railway bridge over the Avon at Bath.

The elegant masonry crossing carries Brunel's broad-gauge railway.

The structure incorporates arches, railway facilities and workers' accommodation.

Completes the long Twerton Viaduct for the Great Western Railway.

Brunel incorporates railway facilities and workers' dwellings into the long masonry viaduct at Twerton.

The Great Western section between Bristol and Bath opens, using Brunel's broad gauge and associated masonry structures.

Opens his original Bristol Temple Meads terminus.

Trains begin running from Brunel's Bristol station toward Bath.

Daniel Gooch proposes locomotive works at Swindon and Brunel supports creation of a major railway centre there.

Brunel submits a detailed report recommending screw propulsion instead of paddle wheels for the new Great Britain.

Brunel orders SS Great Britain to be redesigned for screw propulsion instead of paddle wheels.

Another section of Brunel's Great Western main line opens between Wootton Bassett and Chippenham.

The structure becomes a surviving element of Brunel's original railway.

The western entrance is finished with a more elaborate architectural treatment than the simpler eastern portal.

Brunel pushes the main contractor to increase the Box Tunnel workforce from about twelve hundred to four thousand men.

The viaduct opens with the completed Great Western route.

Completes the principal railway viaduct at Chippenham.

Brunel's railway viaduct at Chippenham opens with the completed Great Western route.

The completed London-to-Bristol main line extends roughly 116 miles and embodies Brunel's integrated railway design.

Completes the Quaker's Yard viaduct for the Taff Vale Railway.

Completes a railway footbridge through Sydney Gardens in Bath.

The crossing supports rail access for the South Wales iron industry.

The opposing tunnel workings meet with an alignment error of less than two inches and construction is completed.

Box Tunnel opens as the longest railway tunnel in the world at the time.

The complete Great Western Railway route between London and Bristol opens for through services.

Completion of the main line allows continuous railway travel between London and Bristol in about four hours.

The bridge towers, abutments and four anchor tunnels are substantially completed before the project again runs short of money.

The ship's machinery uses a large chain drive to transmit engine power to the screw propeller.

Brunel assists the Royal Navy in fitting HMS Rattler with screw propulsion and suitable engines.

Construction stalls because the bridge company lacks the funds needed to complete the chains and roadway.

Funds are exhausted and construction stops before the chains and roadway can be completed.

SS Great Britain is equipped with a six-masted schooner rig designed to reduce the sailing manpower required.

Earlier survey work by Brunel helps shape plans for extending broad-gauge railway communication from Exeter toward Plymouth.

The Great Western Railway works open at New Swindon and become a major centre for locomotive engineering.

The Thames Tunnel opens to pedestrians after eighteen years of construction begun under Marc and Isambard Brunel.

Brunel accidentally inhales a half-sovereign coin and later designs equipment to help remove it.

Prince Albert attends the public launch of SS Great Britain in Bristol's Floating Harbour.

SS Great Britain is launched as the largest ship in the world and a pioneering iron screw steamship.

Brunel recommends atmospheric propulsion for the South Devon Railway, expecting savings and greater freedom in gradients and curves.

SS Great Britain is completed for service but remains delayed by limitations in Bristol Harbour.

Parliament authorises the South Devon Railway, enabling Brunel's route from Exeter toward Plymouth to proceed.

SS Great Britain finally leaves Bristol Floating Harbour after modifications are made to the harbour locks.

Contracts are placed for stationary engines and equipment needed to operate Brunel's atmospheric railway system.

Its chains are later reused to complete the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

Completes the Hungerford Suspension Bridge across the Thames.

Brunel is elected to the council of the Institution of Civil Engineers.

SS Great Britain is completed and prepared for transatlantic passenger service.

SS Great Britain departs Liverpool for New York on her first transatlantic voyage.

SS Great Britain reaches New York after becoming the first iron steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

Brunel defends the Great Western broad gauge as Parliament regulates the gauges permitted on future railways.

SS Great Britain completes two transatlantic round trips during her second season of passenger service.

The first South Devon section opens with conventional locomotives while the atmospheric equipment is still being installed.

SS Great Britain runs aground in Dundrum Bay during a transatlantic voyage.

The South Devon Railway extends from Teignmouth to Newton while Brunel continues preparing atmospheric traction.

The first piston carriage is delivered and makes an initial atmospheric test run from Exeter.

Brunel and Jacob Samuda take part in an early test journey that exposes weaknesses in pumps and traction pipes.

An atmospheric-powered train hauls eleven goods wagons on the South Devon Railway during experimental running.

SS Great Britain is refloated after remaining stranded in Dundrum Bay for nearly a year.

Brunel's atmospheric railway opens to Teignmouth using stationary engines and vacuum pipes for propulsion.

Regular passenger services begin using atmospheric propulsion between Exeter and Teignmouth.

The relatively level Exeter-to-Newton section uses fifteen-inch traction pipes to propel atmospheric trains.

A Brunel-designed viaduct opens on the South Devon route as part of the extension toward Plymouth.

Brunel plans larger traction pipes for the steeper section beyond Newton where greater pulling force is required.

A Brunel-designed elliptical railway overbridge is completed for the South Devon Railway near Plympton.

Early work begins on Brunel's proposed railway crossing of the River Tamar before the project is later restarted.

Atmospheric railway services reach Newton Abbot as Brunel continues testing the experimental system.

Atmospheric passenger working extends from Teignmouth to Newton on Brunel's South Devon system.

All scheduled trains between Exeter and Newton temporarily operate using Brunel's atmospheric traction system.

Brunel launches a survey cylinder into the River Tamar to investigate foundations for the future bridge.

The atmospheric railway closes after persistent leakage and high maintenance costs make it impractical.

Persistent leakage, unreliable equipment and high operating costs lead to abandonment of atmospheric traction on the South Devon Railway.

Designs a wrought-iron swing bridge for Bristol Harbour.

Begins work on the railway bridge across the River Wye at Chepstow.

Brunel develops tubular iron supports for the railway crossing of the River Wye at Chepstow.

The bridge forms part of Brunel's improvements to the entrance locks.

Designs the wrought-iron railway bridge carrying the Windsor branch over the Thames.

Brunel develops a wrought-iron bow-and-string railway crossing over the Thames for the Windsor branch.

The bow-and-string design anticipates later work at Saltash.

The tubular design influences Brunel's later Royal Albert Bridge.

Brunel's father and engineering mentor Marc Isambard Brunel dies.

The Brunel Swivel Bridge is completed as part of improvements to the locks at Bristol Harbour.

Brunel becomes a vice-president of the Institution of Civil Engineers.

Material intended for the unfinished Clifton bridge is disposed of after the project loses its remaining construction funds.

Brunel is ordered to suspend the unfinished bridge works and sell materials and plant to satisfy creditors.

Brunel presents preliminary plans for rebuilding Paddington as a grand permanent railway terminus.

Brunel arrives with a large workforce during a bitter contractor dispute at Mickleton Tunnel, prompting local magistrates to intervene.

Brunel employs wrought-iron plate girders for approach spans and decking at the Chepstow railway bridge.

The Chepstow railway bridge uses Brunel's distinctive large inverted-W tubular girder over the River Wye.

Brunel completes the tubular railway bridge over the River Wye at Chepstow.

Brunel develops a huge steamship intended to reach distant destinations without repeatedly stopping to take on coal.

Brunel develops the concept of an exceptionally large steamship able to reach distant destinations without refuelling.

The Great Western Railway opens its Birmingham station at Snow Hill.

The Great Eastern is designed with both paddle wheels and a screw propeller driven by separate machinery.

Brunel's Great Eastern design uses a double iron hull to provide exceptional structural strength and internal subdivision.

Brunel designs the permanent station with architectural detailing undertaken by Matthew Digby Wyatt.

Brunel finalises the distinctive lenticular truss design for the railway bridge across the River Tamar.

Brunel's broad-gauge engineering links major South Wales industrial routes with the wider Great Western system.

The Great Western Railway approves Brunel's plans for a grand permanent terminus at Paddington.

Construction of the Clifton Suspension Bridge is completely abandoned.

The unfinished project remains dormant when its statutory time limit expires.

The foundation for a Cornish-side pier of the Royal Albert Bridge is formally laid at Saltash.

Brunel submits designs for floating gun batteries intended for use during the Crimean War.

Because of the ship's enormous length and the narrow Thames, Brunel plans to launch Great Eastern sideways.

Major construction restarts on the Tamar railway bridge after the earlier preliminary phase.

The first Great Western Railway service departs from Brunel's new Paddington Station before completion of the roof.

Construction begins on Brunel's Royal Albert Bridge across the River Tamar between Devon and Cornwall.

The keel of SS Great Eastern is laid at John Scott Russell's shipyard in Millwall.

Brunel's permanent Paddington Station formally opens with a three-span wrought-iron and glazed train shed.

The giant steamship is designed with five funnels serving its extensive steam machinery.

The modular wards include dedicated washing, bathing and sanitary facilities rather than relying on improvised arrangements.

Brunel incorporates systematic drainage and sewerage into the hospital plan to improve sanitation.

Brunel develops a standard hospital unit divided into two twenty-five-bed wards for rapid prefabricated construction.

Designs a prefabricated hospital for wounded soldiers.

Standardised timber and iron components are manufactured in Britain for shipment to the Dardanelles site.

A small railway is incorporated into the site plan to move stores and patients from the landing jetty toward the hospital.

Purpose-built kitchens are positioned to serve groups of hospital wards efficiently.

Dedicated laundries are included in the prefabricated complex and connected with the hospital's drainage arrangements.

Brunel's prefabricated layout allows the hospital to expand rapidly as additional ward buildings are shipped and assembled.

Brunel develops a large modular plan capable of accommodating roughly one thousand military patients.

The hospital design includes planned ventilation so fresh air can be distributed through the prefabricated ward buildings.

The War Office asks Brunel to design a prefabricated military hospital for the Crimean War.

Brunel completes his modular hospital design six days after receiving the commission.

The prefabricated Renkioi Hospital is assembled and prepared to receive British military patients.

The central river pier is completed to the stage needed for erection of its upper iron support structure.

Work continues after disruption caused by John Scott Russell's financial difficulties and bankruptcy.

Work on SS Great Eastern stops temporarily after John Scott Russell's shipbuilding business becomes bankrupt.

Brunel prepares heavy chains and hydraulic equipment for the difficult sideways launch of the enormous ship.

The first great main-span truss is floated into position on barges before being raised above the river.

Tugs, naval vessels and hundreds of workers manoeuvre the first main truss through the river into alignment with its piers.

Robert Howlett photographs Brunel standing before the launching chains of SS Great Eastern.

The first attempt to launch SS Great Eastern sideways ends in failure and the death of a worker.

SS Great Eastern is finally floated after repeated and costly launching attempts.

Hydraulic jacks lift the first main truss to its final height about one hundred feet above the water.

The second main span is floated into the Tamar to complete the paired crossing arrangement.

The crossing marks completion of one of his final major bridge projects.

Completion of the Tamar crossing allows the Cornwall Railway to connect directly with the South Devon broad-gauge network.

Crosses the completed Royal Albert Bridge while seriously ill.

Brunel combines tubular compression arches with suspension chains to create the bridge's distinctive bowstring structural system.

The completed bridge is recorded as costing under two hundred and twenty-five thousand pounds.

The Cornish portal carries the prominent inscription 'I K BRUNEL ENGINEER 1859' as part of the completed bridge.

The completed bridge uses two principal spans of about 135 metres each across the navigable Tamar.

The bridge provides the high navigation clearance demanded by the Admiralty while carrying the railway across the Tamar.

Seventeen approach spans connect Brunel's two main river spans with the railway on both banks.

The structure becomes one of Brunel's rare surviving iron bridges.

Completes the combined road, rail and canal crossing known as Windmill Bridge.

A South Devon locomotive makes the first test crossing of Brunel's Royal Albert Bridge.

The Royal Albert Bridge passes its official Board of Trade inspection and load tests.

Prince Albert formally opens the Royal Albert Bridge, although illness prevents Brunel from attending.

Public railway services begin across the Royal Albert Bridge as the Cornwall Railway opens through Saltash.

Brunel suffers a severe stroke shortly before the first sea trials of SS Great Eastern.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel dies at the age of fifty-three after a career transforming railways, bridges, tunnels and ships.

Chains from Brunel's dismantled Hungerford Suspension Bridge are purchased for use in completing the Clifton bridge.

Construction restarts under a revised design by William Henry Barlow and John Hawkshaw.

The completed structure is tested by placing about five hundred tons of stone across the bridge deck.

The Clifton Suspension Bridge opens to the public as a memorial to Brunel five years after his death.