Project #9Brunel's BridgesHistorical overview and major milestones in the life of Kingdom BrunelIsambard Kingdom Brunel was one of the most successful and famous engineers of the 19th century, responsible for the design of bridges, railway lines , ships and tunnels.Brunel was born on 9 April 1806 in Portsmouth. His father Mark was a French engineer who fled France during the revolution. Brunel studied in Paris for three years and returned to England where he worked with his father. Brunel's first notable achievement was designing the Thames Tunnel from Rotherhithe to Wapping with his father, which was finished in 1843. In 1831, Brunel's design won the competition for the Clifton Suspension Bridge over the River Avon. His best-known achievement was the design of a network of bridges, viaducts and tunnels for the Great Western Railway. 1833, worked on the line from London to Bristol. Many achievements were achieved during its construction, including the Hanwell and Chippenham viaducts, the Box Tunnel, Bristol Temple Meads station and Maidenhead Bridge. While working on the line from Swindon to Gloucester and South Wales, he devised the combination trestle, tubular and suspension bridge to cross the Wye at Chepstow. This bridge combination was further improved in his famous bridge over the Tamar at Saltash near Plymouth. The Saltash Bridge (Royal Albert Bridge) was built at Saltash in Cornwall, 1855-59. Isambard Kingdom Brunel was appointed chief designer and engineer. His challenge was to build a suspension bridge over the River Tamar, 1,100 feet wide. On 11 April 1859, the first test train, a South Devon locomotive, crossed the bridge. On May 2, 1859, his Roy...... middle of paper ......to the constable during the riot. All his projects were amazing and incredible and involved enormous risks. If it had not staked other people's money and its own reputation on these projects, Britain would not be able to boast the fastest railways and ships in the world. (Lane, 2006) Like normal people, Brunel had failures in his projects, the atmospheric railway was one of the examples. Theoretically, his atmospheric railway eliminated the need for a heavy locomotive. It had a tube running between the rails that moved the train using pressure, but it could not be made to work properly. It was closed after six months and investors lost their money. (Lane, 2006) Brunel is also a good negotiator, capable of convincing people to finance his projects even after previous ones had failed. All in all, Brunel was a great engineer who epitomized risk and reward. (Path, 2006)