Isambard Kingdom Brunel 2003 book and BBC TV series "Seven Wonders of the Industrial World" included a dramatisation of the building of the "Great Eastern". Many of Brunel's bridges are still in use. Brunel's first engineering project, the Thames Tunnel, is now part of the London Overground network. The Brunel Engine House at Rotherhithe, which once housed the steam engines that powered the tunnel pumps, now houses the Brunel Museum dedicated to the work and lives of Henry Marc and Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Many of Brunel's original papers and designs are now held in the Brunel Institute alongside the in Bristol, and are
Marc Isambard Brunel but this scheme never came to fruition. In 1818 Brunel had patented a tunnelling shield. This was a reinforced shield of cast iron in which miners would work in separate compartments, digging at the tunnel-face. Periodically the shield would be driven forward by large jacks, and the tunnel surface behind it would be lined with brick. It is claimed that Brunel found the inspiration for his tunnelling shield from the shipworm, "Teredo navalis", which has its head protected by a hard shell whilst it bores through ships' timbers. Brunel's invention provided the basis for subsequent tunnelling shields used to build