Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-1859), British civil engineer and ship designer. In 1825, Brunel helped his father to construct the first tunnel under the Thames in London, England. In 1830, he won the competition for a design for the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol. In 1833, he was appointed engineer of the Great Western Railway (GWR), designing railway track between London and south-west England. He also designed trans-Atlantic steam ships, including the Great Britain, the Great Western, and the Great Eastern. Engraving from 'The Life of Isambard Kingdom Brunel' (1870), after an 1857 portrait by his wife's brother John Callcott Horsley (1817-1903).