What did IKB do for you?

IKB, Isambard Kingdom Brunel,

the diminuitive Victorian engineer who was a giant among giants.


I saw a newspaper report about a proposed statue of IKB in Rotherhithe, London, UK, where IKB distinguished himself by completing the first tunnel underneath the River Thames in 1843 - surviving at least one inrush along the way.


What was quite telling was one comment from a resident: "Barry Duckett, chairman of the nearby Canada Estate Tenants’ and Residents’ Association, said: “It’s too big and it’s not in keeping with the area. It’s just a load of wire thrown together. It’s our council flats that are going to look at it – nobody around here will be able to miss it. A lot of local people say it’s a waste of money. He [Brunel] never did much for us."




Oh dear, send in the crack troops from the BTS and ITA to enlighten the fellow!

(photocredit: Forge Architects)

Now personally, I think the statute looks as ok as many others. It actually does a pretty good job of representing the top hatted, frock coated, engineering multi-tasker as he juggles projects as diverse as tunnels, railways, steamships and bridges.



This is really related to my post about creativity in mining. Engineers working in mining or underground construction all provide a great service to society, whether it be material resources or infrastructure and it seems from Duckett's comment (and many experiences of my own) that this point is not really getting across to people.


Poor old IKB, what did he do for us?

Well among his list of achievements we can count:

• the Thames Tunnel
• Clifton Suspension Bridge
• the Great Western Railway (GWR) with all the associated tunnels, bridges and viaducts - it was wider gauge than standard for faster, more comfortable journeys, but was eventually narrowed to standardise rolling stock with the rest of the rail network
• the world's first iron-hulled, screw propellor (previously had been paddle steamers), steam powered passenger liner
• the first trans-atlantic steamship
• at the time the biggest ship ever built
• a prefabricated hospital for the Crimea

and if there is still any doubt, take a look at this, this and this.


"Get a big top hat if you want to get ahead."