Isambard Kingdom Brunel

Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Three names. Three people in one. Born in Portsmouth on 9 April 1806, there was Brunel the great engineer, who would habitually throw out the rulebook of tradition and established practice, and start again with a blank sheet of paper, taking the technology of the day to its limits – and then going another mile.


The three decades, from the 1830s to the 1850s, saw an explosion of technical excellence, and it was Brunel who in so many cases lit the blue touchpaper.