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 rule book 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.
Then there was Brunel the visionary, who knew that transport technology
had the power to change the world, and that he had the ability to
deliver those changes. Finally, there was Brunel the artist who rarely
saw technology as just functional, and strove to entwine the fruits of
the Industrial Revolution with the elegance and grace of the
neo-classical painter. His bridges, tunnels and railway infrastructure
have entered a third century of regular use, and the beauty of their
design and structure has rarely been equaled.
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 touch paper. He did not always get it right first time, and it was
left to others to reap the fruits of his many labors. Nevertheless, his
actions fast-forwarded the march of progress by several decades.
