Thank you for downloading this episode of In Our Time for more details about In Our Time,

and for our terms of use, please go to bbc.co.uk slash radio4.

I hope you enjoy the program.

Hello, in 1860 the proceedings of the institution of civil engineers printed an obituary,

a vizambard kingdom brunel.

Quote, the characteristic feature of his works, it said, was their size.

But, Quote, his besetting fault was a seeking for novelty, where the adoption of a well-known

model would have suffice.

Today, Brunel is remembered as one of the towering figures of the early Victorian age of steam,

an age when engineers strove to establish themselves as respectable members of the professional

class.

Brunel designed and built ships, bridges, tunnels and railways, many of which are still

in use today, more than 150 years after they were opened.

He is commemorated in numerous museums and statues, and as the name of University, and his

reputation has never been higher.

But the patchy opinion of some of his contemporaries suggests a more complicated story.

Let me discuss this about King Brunel, our Krosby Smith, professor of the history of

science at the University of Kent, Julia Elton, historian of engineering and former president

of the Newcomer Society for the History of Engineering and Technology, and Ben Marzen,

senior lecturer in the School of Divinity, History and Philosophy at the University of

Aberdeen.

Krosby Smith, his embank was the son of an engineer Mark Brunel.

...