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

his Lombard 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 sufficed.

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 a university, and his reputation has never been higher. But the

patchy opinion of some of its contemporaries suggests a more complicated story.

With me to discuss his Embar Kingdom Brunel are Crosby Smith, professor of the History of Science at the University of Kent.

Julia Elton, Historian of Engineering and former President of the Newcom and Society

for the History of Engineering and Technology, and Ben Marzan,zan senior lecturer in the School of

Divinity, History and Philosophy at the University of Aberdeen. Crosby Smith

Isambard was the son of an engineer Mark Brunel.

Can you tell us something about him?

Yes, the Brunels were originally a farming family

from near Ruon in Normandy.

And Mark was originally intended for the priesthood, but at an early age he showed an aptitude

for mechanical and mathematical studies and went to Ruon where he studied hydrography, that is the charting

...