Isambard Kingdom Brunel

Isambard Kingdom Brunel was as a famous engineer. He was born in 1806 and he died when he was 53 in 1859 in Portsmouth.

He was very clever and loved maths. When he left school, he became an apprentice to a watchmaker in Paris.

When he was 17, he started to work in his father’s engineering office in London. His first job with his father was building the Thames Tunnel. It went underneath the river Thames.

Brunel was injured in an accident when the tunnel collapsed under the water. He went to Bristol and won a competition to build a bridge over the river Avon. The only way to cross the river while the bridge was being built was in a basket. Brunel was the first person to cross the river in the basket.

He had a wife and three children. He loved performing magic tricks to them.

He wanted to build a railway from London to Bristol. He became the Chief Engineer of the Great Western Railway in 1833. He also wanted to build ships that would sail from Bristol to New York.

The first boat he ever built was called The Great Western, which was made from wood. His second ship was even bigger and made from iron. His last ship, The Great Eastern, was the biggest ship in the world (at the time). The Great Eastern took five years to build.

It was difficult to launch but she eventually launched in 1858. In 1859, an explosion on board the Great Eastern really upset Brunel. Brunel died at the age of 53 a week later. His work meant that people could travel and trade in a different way. You can see his suspension bridge in Bristol.