Isambard Kingdom Brunel (born April 9, 1806; died September 15, 1859) was an English civil and mechanical engineer. He is regarded as one of the most creative and productive engineers in history, as well as one of the greatest figures of the Industrial Revolution. Brunel changed the English landscape with his innovative designs and important constructions. He built dockyards, the Great Western Railway (GWR), a series of steamships, including the first ship designed specifically for crossing the Atlantic Ocean, and many bridges and tunnels. His work helped improve public transportation and modern engineering.

Brunel’s projects sometimes faced challenges, but they often included new solutions to difficult engineering problems. During his career, he achieved many firsts, such as helping his father build the first tunnel under a navigable river (the River Thames) and developing the SS Great Britain, the first large iron ship powered by a propeller. This ship, launched in 1843, was the largest ship ever built at that time.

On the GWR, Brunel set high standards for railway construction. He used detailed surveys to reduce steep slopes and sharp turns, which required expensive methods, new bridges, and the construction of the two-mile-long Box Tunnel. One notable feature was the use of a "broad gauge" track, which was wider than the later "standard gauge" used in most railways. Brunel also proposed building steam-powered, iron-hulled ships to extend the GWR westward to North America. He designed and built three ships that changed naval engineering: the SS Great Western (1838), the SS Great Britain (1843), and the SS Great Eastern (1859).

In 2002, Brunel was named second in a BBC public poll to choose the "100 Greatest Britons." In 2006, the 200th anniversary of his birth was celebrated with a special program called Brunel 200, which honored his life and achievements.

Early life

Isambard Kingdom Brunel was born on April 9, 1806, in Britain Street, Portsea, Portsmouth, Hampshire. His father was working on block-making machinery at the time. He was named Isambard after his father, Sir Marc Isambard Brunel, a French civil engineer, and Kingdom after his English mother, Sophia Kingdom. His mother’s sister, Elizabeth Kingdom, was married to Thomas Mudge Jr., the son of Thomas Mudge, a clockmaker. Brunel had two older sisters, Sophia, the oldest child, and Emma. In 1808, the family moved to London for his father’s work. Brunel had a happy childhood, even though the family often struggled with money. His father taught him during his early years, showing him how to draw and observe details. By age four, Brunel was learning to draw and observe structures. By age eight, he had mastered Euclidean geometry. During this time, he became fluent in French and learned basic engineering principles. He was encouraged to sketch buildings and find flaws in their designs. Like his father, he showed a strong ability in math and mechanics.

At age eight, Brunel attended Dr. Morrell’s boarding school in Hove, where he studied classical subjects. His father, who was born in France, wanted Brunel to receive the same high-quality education he had in France. At 14, Brunel first enrolled in a college in Caen, then later at Lycée Henri-IV in Paris.

In 1821, when Brunel was 15, his father faced financial trouble and was sent to a debtors’ prison because he owed more than £5,000 (equivalent to £475,000 in 2025). After three months without a resolution, his father considered an offer from the Tsar of Russia. In August 1821, the British government offered his father £5,000 to pay his debts in exchange for his promise to stay in Britain.

After completing his studies at Lycée Henri-IV in 1822, Brunel’s father tried to get him accepted into the famous engineering school École Polytechnique. However, Brunel was not allowed to enter because he was a foreigner. Instead, Brunel studied under Abraham-Louis Breguet, a well-known clockmaker and horologist. Breguet wrote to Brunel’s father, praising his talent. In late 1822, after finishing his apprenticeship, Brunel returned to England.

Thames Tunnel

Brunel worked as an assistant engineer on a project to build a tunnel under London's River Thames between Rotherhithe and Wapping. Workers dug a horizontal tunnel through the riverbed under difficult and dangerous conditions. The project was funded by the Thames Tunnel Company, and Brunel's father, Marc, was the chief engineer. The American Naturalist wrote, "It is stated also that the operations of the Teredo [Shipworm] suggested to Mr. Brunel his method of tunnelling the Thames."

The riverbed at Rotherhithe was mostly wet soil and loose gravel. A tunnelling shield designed by Marc Brunel helped protect workers from collapses, but two major flooding events stopped work for long periods. These incidents killed several workers and seriously injured Brunel. In 1828, two senior miners died, and Brunel narrowly avoided death. He spent six months recovering and began designing a bridge in Bristol, which later became the Clifton Suspension Bridge. This event paused tunnel work for several years.

The Thames Tunnel was completed during Marc Brunel's lifetime, but his son was not involved in the tunnel itself. Instead, he used the abandoned tunnel at Rotherhithe for experiments called Gaz, based on his father's idea. The experiments aimed to create an engine powered by heating and cooling carbon dioxide made from ammonium carbonate and sulfuric acid. Although some groups showed interest, Brunel concluded the experiments were not practical due to high fuel costs, and they ended in 1834.

In 1865, the East London Railway Company bought the Thames Tunnel for £200,000. Four years later, the first trains passed through it. Later, the tunnel became part of the London Underground system and remains in use today. It was originally part of the East London Line and is now part of the London Overground.

Bridges and viaducts

Brunel is best known for designing the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, which began construction in 1831. The bridge was built using Brunel’s design, but with many changes. It spans over 702 feet (214 meters) and is about 249 feet (76 meters) above the River Avon. At the time of its construction, it had the longest span of any bridge in the world. Brunel submitted four designs to a committee led by Thomas Telford, but Telford rejected all of them and proposed his own design instead. Strong public opposition led the committee to hold a new competition, which Brunel won.

After the competition, Brunel wrote to his brother-in-law, Benjamin Hawes, a politician: "Of all the wonderful feats I have performed since coming to this part of the world, I think yesterday I performed the most wonderful. I achieved agreement among 15 men who were all arguing about the most difficult subject—taste."

Work on the Clifton Bridge began in 1831 but was stopped because of the Queen Square riots caused by the arrival of Sir Charles Wetherell in Clifton. The riots frightened investors, leaving no money for the project, and construction stopped.

Brunel did not live to see the bridge completed. However, his colleagues and admirers at the Institution of Civil Engineers believed it would be a fitting memorial to him. They raised new funds and changed the design. Work began again in 1862, three years after Brunel’s death, and the bridge was completed in 1864. In 2011, historian Adrian Vaughan suggested that Brunel did not design the bridge as it was finally built, because the later changes to its design were major. This idea was similar to a statement made 52 years earlier by Tom Rolt in his 1959 book Brunel. One reason given for the changes was that parts of the bridge, such as the suspension chains, were reused from an earlier bridge. The Clifton Suspension Bridge still stands today, and over 4 million vehicles cross it each year.

The Hungerford Bridge, a suspension footbridge over the Thames near Charing Cross Station in London, opened in May 1845. Its central span was 676.5 feet (206.2 meters), and its cost was £106,000. It was replaced by a new railway bridge in 1859, and the suspension chains from the Hungerford Bridge were used to complete the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

Brunel designed many bridges for his railway projects, including the Royal Albert Bridge over the River Tamar at Saltash near Plymouth, Somerset Bridge (a unique laminated timber-framed bridge near Bridgwater), the Windsor Railway Bridge, and the Maidenhead Railway Bridge over the Thames in Berkshire. The Maidenhead Railway Bridge was the flattest and widest brick arch bridge in the world at the time and still carries main line trains today, even though modern trains are about ten times heavier than those in Brunel’s time.

During his railway projects, especially on the South Devon and Cornwall Railways, where cost was a concern and many valleys needed to be crossed, Brunel used wood extensively to build large viaducts. These structures have been replaced over time because the primary material, Kyanised Baltic Pine, became too expensive to obtain.

Brunel designed the Royal Albert Bridge in 1855 for the Cornwall Railway after Parliament rejected his original plan for a train ferry across the Hamoaze—the estuary of the tidal Tamar, Tavy, and Lynher rivers. The bridge, built with bowstring girder or tied arch construction, has two main spans of 455 feet (139 meters), 100 feet (30 meters) above mean high spring tide, plus 17 shorter approach spans. It was opened by Prince Albert on May 2, 1859, the same year Brunel died.

Several of Brunel’s bridges over the Great Western Railway might be demolished because the line is to be electrified, and there is not enough space for overhead wires. Buckinghamshire County Council is working to explore options to save all nine remaining historic bridges on the line.

When the Cornwall Railway company built a railway line between Plymouth and Truro, opening in 1859, and extended it to Falmouth in 1863, they followed Brunel’s advice to build river crossings as wooden viaducts. These included 42 viaducts made of timber deck spans supported by fans of timber bracing on masonry piers. This method reduced initial construction costs compared to using all masonry, but required more expensive maintenance. In 1934, the last of Brunel’s timber viaducts was replaced with a masonry structure.

Brunel’s last major project was the Three Bridges in London. Work began in 1856 and was completed in 1859. The three bridges were built to allow the Grand Junction Canal, Great Western and Brentford Railway, and Windmill Lane to cross each other.

Older than the Suspension Bridge, Isambard Brunel’s rotating bridge, the Brunel Swivel Bridge in Bristol, was originally built to carry a road across his new Entrance Lock to the City Docks. It was constructed in 1849 in the same dockyard as the SS Great Britain and by the same firm. It still exists today, near the 1872 Entrance Lock, where it was an essential crossing until replaced by the Plimsoll Swing Bridge in 1968. The bridge’s deck is 33 meters (110 feet) long, weighs about 70 tonnes, and can still rotate, even though it is in poor condition. It is a Grade 2* listed heritage site and is being restored.

• The Clifton Suspension Bridge spans Avon Gorge, connecting Clifton in Bristol to Leigh Woods in North Somerset.
• The Maidenhead Railway Bridge was the largest span for a brick arch bridge at the time.
• The Royal Albert Bridge spans the River Tamar at Saltash.
• The Moorswater Viaduct at Liskeard, Cornwall, as built.

Great Western Railway

In the early part of Brunel's life, railways became a popular way to transport goods. This influenced Brunel's work in railway engineering, including designing railway bridges.

In 1833, before the Thames Tunnel was completed, Brunel was named chief engineer of the Great Western Railway, a major railway in Victorian Britain that connected London to Bristol and later Exeter. The company was created during a public meeting in Bristol in 1833 and officially approved by a law passed by Parliament called the Great Western Railway Act 1835.

Brunel imagined that passengers could buy one ticket at London Paddington and travel from London to New York, switching from the Great Western Railway to a steamship at the terminus in Neyland, West Wales.

Brunel personally surveyed the entire route from London to Bristol, with help from many people, including his lawyer, Jeremiah Osborne of the Bristol law firm Osborne Clarke. Osborne once rowed Brunel down the River Avon to study the riverbank for the railway route. Brunel also designed the Royal Hotel in Bath, which opened in 1846 near the railway station.

Brunel made two decisions that caused debate: using a wide track gauge of 7 ft 1⁄4 in (2,140 mm), which he believed allowed faster and smoother train travel; and choosing a route that passed north of the Marlborough Downs, an area without major towns but with potential links to Oxford and Gloucester, before following the Thames Valley to London. At the time, most British railways used a standard gauge, and Brunel argued that the wider gauge was better for speed and comfort. He supported his choice with calculations and tests, showing that the wider gauge allowed larger freight wagons and greater cargo capacity.

Inspired by his work on the Thames Tunnel, the Great Western Railway included many engineering achievements, such as viaducts like the one in Ivybridge, specially designed stations, and tunnels like the Box Tunnel, which was the longest railway tunnel in the world at that time. The line from London to Bristol was completed and ready for trains on 30 June 1841.

The first group of locomotives ordered by Brunel did not work well, except for the North Star. Daniel Gooch, who was 20 years old at the time, was later appointed as Superintendent of Locomotive Engines. Brunel and Gooch chose to build their locomotive works in the village of Swindon, where the railway route shifted from a gentle slope toward London to a steeper descent toward the Avon Valley near Bath.

After Brunel's death, it was decided that all railways in the country should use the standard gauge. At the original Welsh terminus of the Great Western Railway in Neyland, sections of the old wide-gauge rails are used as handrails at the quayside. Information boards there describe parts of Brunel's life, and a large bronze statue of him holding a steamship and a locomotive stands nearby. The statue was replaced after being stolen.

The current London Paddington station was designed by Brunel and opened in 1854. Examples of his designs for smaller stations that still exist in good condition include Mortimer, Charlbury, and Bridgend (all Italianate in style) and Culham (Tudorbethan in style). Surviving wooden train sheds in his style are at Frome and Kingswear.

The Swindon Steam Railway Museum displays many items from Brunel's time on the Great Western Railway. The Didcot Railway Centre has a reconstructed section of the 7 ft 1⁄4 in (2,140 mm) track as Brunel designed, along with working steam locomotives in the same gauge.

Some members of society viewed railways negatively. Some landowners believed railways might harm their property or reduce land values. Others asked for tunnels on their land to hide the railway from view.

Brunel's "atmospheric caper"

Isambard Kingdom Brunel's use of a new technology called the atmospheric railway was not successful. This system was part of the Great Western Railway (GWR) and extended south from Exeter toward Plymouth, officially known as the South Devon Railway (SDR), though supported by the GWR. Instead of using traditional locomotives, the trains moved using a system developed by Clegg and Samuda. This system used vacuum (or atmospheric) traction, where stationary pumps removed air from a pipe placed in the center of the track.

The section from Exeter to Newton (now Newton Abbot) was built using this method. Trains on this section reached speeds of about 68 miles per hour (109 kilometers per hour). Pumping stations with square chimneys were placed every 2 miles (3.2 kilometers). On flat areas, 15-inch (380 millimeter) pipes were used, while 22-inch (559 millimeter) pipes were planned for steeper sections.

A planned telegraph system was not installed to the pumping stations, so vacuum pumps operated based only on train schedules. This caused inefficiency when trains were delayed. Additionally, the pumping engines were not large enough, forcing them to work at maximum capacity instead of their ideal speed.

The system required leather flaps to seal the vacuum pipes. However, the vacuum removed natural oils from the leather, making it vulnerable to water. In winter 1847, the leather froze and broke, weakening the structure. To keep the leather flexible, tallow was used, but this attracted rats, which damaged the flaps. The vacuum system operated for less than a year, from September 1847 (when experimental service began) to September 10, 1848. The final failure was due to the deterioration of the valve caused by the reaction of tannin and iron oxide. The valve began to tear from its rivets, and replacing it would have cost £25,000, which was too expensive.

The system was never proven effective. In 1848, the South Devon Railway reported that atmospheric traction cost 3 shillings and 1 penny per mile, compared to 1 shilling and 4 pence per mile for traditional steam power. Many issues with the atmospheric system remained unsolved, making cost efficiency difficult to calculate. Some engine houses from the South Devon Railway still exist, including those in Totnes (designated a grade II listed monument in 2007) and Starcross.

A section of the pipe, without the leather covers, is preserved at the Didcot Railway Centre. In 2017, inventor Max Schlienger displayed a working model of an updated atmospheric railroad at his vineyard in Ukiah, California.

Transatlantic shipping

Before the Great Western Railway opened in 1835, Brunel suggested using boats to extend the transport network from Bristol across the Atlantic Ocean to New York City. Thomas Guppy formed the Great Western Steamship Company for this purpose. Many people doubted if a steam-powered ship could make such long trips successfully. Technological advances in the early 1830s, such as the surface condenser, allowed boilers to operate on salt water without needing frequent cleaning, making longer journeys more possible. However, most believed a ship would not have enough fuel or space for cargo to complete the trip.

Brunel used experimental evidence from Beaufoy to develop a theory that a ship’s carrying capacity increased with the cube of its size, while water resistance increased with the square of its size. This meant larger ships would need less fuel per unit of cargo than smaller ones. To test this idea, Brunel volunteered to work for the Great Western Steamship Company, where he was placed on the building committee and tasked with designing the company’s first ship, the Great Western.

When completed, the Great Western was the longest ship in the world at 236 feet (72 meters) with a 250-foot (76 meters) keel. It was mostly made of wood, but Brunel added iron diagonal supports to strengthen the keel. The ship had steam-powered paddle wheels and four masts for sails. On April 8, 1838, the Great Western departed from Avonmouth, Bristol, carrying 600 long tons (610,000 kg) of coal, cargo, and seven passengers. Brunel was not on the first voyage, as he was injured in a fire during the ship’s preparation in London. The fire delayed the launch, causing the Great Western to miss the chance to be the first ship to cross the Atlantic using only steam power.

Although the Great Western had a four-day head start, the competing ship Sirius arrived one day earlier but had nearly used all its coal. The Great Western took 15 days and five hours to cross the Atlantic, arriving with a third of its coal remaining, proving Brunel’s calculations were correct. This success showed that commercial transatlantic steamship service was possible. The Great Western Steamship Company used the ship regularly between Bristol and New York from 1838 to 1846, making 64 crossings. It held the Blue Riband with crossing times of 13 days westbound and 12 days and six hours eastbound. The ship’s success led to the need for a sister ship, which Brunel was asked to design.

Brunel believed propeller-driven ships were better than paddle wheels. After testing the propeller-driven steamship Archimedes, he designed the 322-foot (98 meters) Great Britain with a large six-bladed propeller. Launched in 1843, the Great Britain was the first modern ship, built of metal instead of wood, powered by an engine, and driven by a propeller. It was the first iron-hulled, propeller-driven ship to cross the Atlantic. Its maiden voyage occurred in August and September 1845, traveling from Liverpool to New York. In 1846, the ship ran aground at Dundrum, County Down, but was later salvaged and used for Australian service. Today, the Great Britain is fully preserved and open to the public in Bristol, UK.

In 1852, Brunel designed a third ship, the Great Eastern (originally called Leviathan), intended for voyages to India and Australia. At nearly 700 feet (210 meters) long, it was the largest ship of its time, equipped with luxurious features and capable of carrying over 4,000 passengers. Engineers mistakenly believed Australia had no coal reserves, so the ship was designed to travel non-stop between London and Sydney. However, the ship faced delays, budget overruns, and technical problems. Though called a "white elephant," some argue Brunel’s failure was due to economic conditions of the time, as his ideas were ahead of their era. His work made large, propeller-driven, metal steamships practical, but it took decades for transoceanic steamship travel to become a viable industry.

The Great Eastern was built at John Scott Russell’s Napier Yard in London. After two trial trips in 1859, it began its maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York on June 17, 1860. Though it failed as a passenger ship, it later played a key role in laying the first lasting transatlantic telegraph cable under Captain Sir James Anderson.

• The first trip of the Great Western in April 1838
• The launch of the Great Britain in 1843
• The Great Eastern shortly before its launch in 1858
• Brunel at the launch of the Great Eastern with John Scott Russell and Lord Derby in 1858

Renkioi Hospital

During the Crimean War, which began in 1854, Britain used an old Turkish barracks in Scutari as a hospital for injured soldiers. Poor conditions there caused soldiers to get sick with diseases such as cholera, dysentery, typhoid, and malaria. Florence Nightingale wrote to The Times newspaper, asking the government to improve the situation.

At the same time, Isambard Kingdom Brunel was working on the Great Eastern, a large ship. In February 1855, he took on the task of designing and building a temporary, prefabricated hospital for the War Office. This hospital could be shipped to Crimea and quickly assembled there. Within five months, Brunel’s team designed, built, and sent prefabricated wooden and canvas buildings to Crimea. They also provided instructions on how to transport and place the buildings.

Brunel had been working with William Eassie, a man from Gloucester Docks who was involved in launching the Great Eastern. Eassie had previously designed and built wooden prefabricated huts used during the Australian gold rush and by British and French forces in Crimea. Using wood from Price & Co., a timber company, Eassie built 18 of the 50-patient wards designed by Brunel. These were shipped from Gloucester Docks to the Dardanelles in 16 ships. The Renkioi Hospital was then built near Scutari Hospital, where Nightingale worked. Renkioi was chosen because it was free of malaria.

Brunel’s hospital designs included important features for cleanliness, such as access to sanitation, proper ventilation, drainage, and basic temperature control. These hospitals were praised as a success. Some reports said that out of about 1,300 patients treated there, only 50 died. In contrast, the older Scutari Hospital had death rates up to ten times higher. Nightingale called the new buildings “those magnificent huts.” Today, the practice of using prefabricated modules to build hospitals continues. For example, the Bristol Royal Infirmary was built using similar methods.

Proposed artillery

In 1854 and 1855, with the help of John Fox Burgoyne, Brunel gave the Admiralty designs for floating gun batteries. These were meant to be weapons used to attack Russian ports. However, the ideas were not accepted, which showed Brunel's belief that the Admiralty was against new ideas.

Personal life and death

On 10 June 1830, Brunel was chosen as a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Brunel married Mary Elizabeth Horsley (born in 1813) on 5 July 1836. She was from a family known for music and art, and she was the oldest daughter of William Horsley, a composer and organist. Together, they moved to a home at Duke Street, Westminster, in London.

In 1843, while performing a magic trick for his children, Brunel accidentally inhaled a half-sovereign coin, which became stuck in his windpipe. A special tool called forceps could not remove it, nor could a machine Brunel designed to shake it loose. At the advice of his father, Brunel was tied to a board and turned upside down, which allowed the coin to be removed. He recovered in Teignmouth and later bought an estate in Watcombe, Torquay, Devon. There, he asked William Burn to design Brunel Manor and its gardens as his country home. He never saw the house or gardens completed, as he died before it was finished.

Brunel was a heavy smoker and had been diagnosed with Bright’s disease (nephritis). He suffered a stroke on 5 September 1859, just before the Great Eastern made its first trip to New York. He died ten days later at the age of 53 and was buried, like his father, in Kensal Green Cemetery, London. A window on the south side of the nave in Westminster Abbey honors him. Many people mourned his death, even though some disagreed with his business decisions. An obituary in The Morning Chronicle stated:

Brunel was survived by his wife, Mary, and three children: Isambard Brunel Junior (1837–1902), Henry Marc Brunel (1842–1903), and Florence Mary Brunel (1847–1876). Henry Marc later became a successful civil engineer.

Legacy

Isambard Kingdom Brunel was a well-known engineer in his time and is still respected today. Many monuments honor him, including a statue on London’s Victoria Embankment, another at Brunel University, and one at Paddington Station. Additional statues are located in Bristol, Plymouth, Swindon, Milford Haven, Saltash, and Neyland, Wales. A statue in Neyland was stolen in August 2010. The topmast of the Great Eastern, a large ship Brunel designed, is now a flagpole at Anfield, the home of Liverpool Football Club. Places named after Brunel include Brunel University, shopping centers in Swindon, and areas in Bletchley, Milton Keynes, and Exeter, such as Isambard Terrace and Brunel Close. In his hometown of Portsmouth, a road, car park, school, and a public house are named in his honor. An engineering lab at the University of Plymouth is also named for him.

In a 2001 BBC poll to choose the 100 Greatest Britons, Brunel was ranked second, after Winston Churchill. His life and work have been written about in many books, films, and TV shows. A 2003 BBC series called Seven Wonders of the Industrial World included a dramatization of the Great Eastern’s construction.

Many of Brunel’s bridges are still used today. His first major project, the Thames Tunnel, is now part of London’s Overground rail system. The Brunel Engine House in Rotherhithe, once used to power tunnel pumps, now houses the Brunel Museum, which displays information about Brunel and his father, Marc Isambard Brunel. Original designs and papers by Brunel are kept at the Brunel Institute in Bristol, near the SS Great Britain, and are available for researchers and visitors.

Brunel helped make Swindon one of Europe’s fastest-growing towns in the 19th century. He built locomotive sheds there, which led to the need for housing for workers. This inspired him to create hospitals, churches, and housing estates, now known as the “Railway Village.” Some sources say that Brunel’s decision to build a Mechanics Institute and hospitals for workers influenced Aneurin Bevan’s later creation of the National Health Service.

A GWR Castle Class steam locomotive, number 5069, was named Isambard Kingdom Brunel. A BR Western Region diesel locomotive, number D1662 (later 47484), was also named after him. The Great Western Railway, which later took over from GWR, named an old InterCity 125 power car, number 43003, and a new InterCity Electric Train, number 800004, after Brunel.

In 2006, the Royal Mint released two £2 coins to celebrate Brunel’s 200th birthday. One coin shows Brunel with part of the Royal Albert Bridge; the other shows Paddington Station. The same year, the Post Office issued six stamps featuring the Royal Albert Bridge, Box Tunnel, Paddington Station, the Great Eastern, Clifton Suspension Bridge, and Maidenhead Railway Bridge.

The words “I.K. BRUNEL ENGINEER 1859” were placed on both ends of the Royal Albert Bridge to mark its opening in 1859, the year Brunel died. These words were later covered by maintenance ladders but were revealed again in 2006 to honor Brunel’s bicentenary.

Brunel was the subject of the 1975 animated film Great, directed by Bob Godfrey. The film won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1976. During the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, actor Kenneth Branagh portrayed Brunel in a segment about the Industrial Revolution.

Brunel is a central character in Howard Rodman’s 2019 novel The Great Eastern, published by Melville House. A fictional version of Brunel appears in the alternate-history podcast Victoriocity, where he helps build Even Greater London.

Two Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) used by Crossrail were named after Brunel’s wife, Mary, and his mother, Sophia.