Summary
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the Victorian engineer responsible for bridges, tunnels and railways still in use today more than 150 years after they were built. Brunel represented the cutting edge of technological innovation in Victorian Britain, and his life gives us a window onto the social changes that accompanied the Industrial Revolution. Yet his work was not always successful, and his innovative approach to engineering projects was often greeted with suspicion from investors.
Guests:
Julia Elton, former President of the Newcomen Society for the History of Engineering and Technology
Ben Marsden, Senior Lecturer in the School of Divinity, History and Philosophy at the University of Aberdeen
Crosbie Smith, Professor of the History of Science at the University of Kent
Producer: Luke Mulhall.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
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| 0:47.0 | Hello in 1860 the proceedings of the institution of civil engineers printed an |
| 0:51.8 | obituary of Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Quote of his |
| 0:53.7 | civil engineers printed an obituary of hisambard kingdom Brunel. |
| 0:54.3 | Quote the characteristic feature of his works it said was their size but quote his |
| 1:00.2 | besetting fault was a seeking for novelty where the adoption of a well-known model would have sufficed. |
| 1:05.6 | Today Brunel is remembered as one of the towering figures of the early Victorian age of steam, |
| 1:09.8 | an age when engineers strove to establish themselves as respectable members of the |
| 1:14.2 | professional class. Brunel designed and built ships, bridges, tunnels and railways, |
| 1:18.6 | many of which are still in use today more than 150 years after they were opened. |
| 1:22.4 | He is commemorated in numerous museums. more than 150 years after they were opened. |
| 1:23.0 | He is commemorated in numerous museums and statues and as the name of the university |
| 1:28.0 | and his reputation has never been higher. |
| 1:30.0 | But the patchy opinion of some of his contemporaries suggests a more complicated story. |
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