Isambard Kingdom Brunel Brunel's achievements as an engineer. The 2013 album "The Last Ship" by Sting includes the song "Ballad of the Great Eastern". Isambard Kingdom Brunel Isambard Kingdom Brunel (; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859), was an English mechanical and civil engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history", "one of the 19th-century engineering giants", and "one of the greatest figures of the Industrial Revolution, [who] changed the face of the English landscape with his groundbreaking designs and ingenious constructions". Brunel built dockyards, the Great Western Railway, a series of steamships including the
Isambard Kingdom Brunel father's middle name, which was also his father's preferred given name. "Isambard" is a Norman name of Germanic origin, meaning either "iron-bright" or "iron-axe". The first element comes from "isarn" meaning iron (or steel). The second element comes from either "biart-r" (bright, glorious) or from "barđa" (a broad axe). His middle name "Kingdom" was his mother's maiden name. The son of French civil engineer Sir Marc Isambard Brunel and an English mother Sophia Kingdom, Isambard Kingdom Brunel was born on 9 April 1806 in Britain Street, Portsea, Portsmouth, Hampshire, where his father was working on block-making machinery. He had two