Marc Isambard Brunel was a French-born engineer, active mainly in Britain, who lived from 1769 to 1849 and was the father of the more widely known engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. His major achievement was the Thames Tunnel, the world's first underwater tunnel, built between Rotherhithe and Limehouse using a reinforced cast-iron tunneling shield he patented in 1818, reportedly inspired by the way a shipworm bores through timber while protected by its own shell; the tunnel opened in 1843 and the shield principle went on to shape later tunneling work including the London Underground. He was knighted in 1841 in anticipation of the tunnel's completion and had earlier been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1814, also designing automated machinery for mass-producing ship's pulley blocks for the Royal Navy.
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Birth YearSourced to the subject's own account Birth DateSourced to the subject's own account Death YearSourced to the subject's own account Death DateSourced to the subject's own account NationalitySourced to the subject's own account Marc Isambard Brunel
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Invented
Built the first successful tunnelling shield in 1825 for the Thames Tunnel, a precursor to the modern boring machine; the engineer Henri Maus built the first true boring machine, the Mountain Slicer, in 1846.
Source Tunnelling shield, Wikipedia
In the Other Atlases
- Also in Geography Atlas: France, nationality there.
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1. Marc Isambard Brunel (Wikipedia)
Wikipedialead sentence, Wikipedia article "Marc Isambard Brunel"
was a French-British engineer who is most famous for the work he did in Britain.
lead sentence dates, Wikipedia article "Marc Isambard Brunel" (birth date)
25 April 1769-12 December 1849
lead sentence dates, Wikipedia article "Marc Isambard Brunel" (birth year)
25 April 1769-12 December 1849
lead sentence dates, Wikipedia article "Marc Isambard Brunel" (death date)
25 April 1769-12 December 1849
lead sentence dates, Wikipedia article "Marc Isambard Brunel" (death year)
25 April 1769-12 December 1849
View the Source Tunnelling shield, Wikipedia
Invented: Tunnelling Shield, Lead sectionQuote, Invented: Tunnelling Shield, Lead section
Although modern shields are commonly cylindrical, the first "shield", designed by Marc Isambard Brunel, was actually a large, rectangular, scaffold-like iron structure with three levels and twelve sections per level, with a solid load-bearing top surface.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was Marc Isambard Brunel's tunneling shield, and what was it used for?
A reinforced cast-iron shield patented in 1818 and used to build the Thames Tunnel, which opened in 1843.
Brunel patented a reinforced cast-iron tunneling shield in 1818, reportedly inspired by the way a shipworm bores through timber while protected by its own shell. He used it to build the Thames Tunnel between Rotherhithe and Limehouse, the world's first underwater tunnel, which opened in 1843. The shield principle went on to shape later tunneling work, including the London Underground.
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