Day 88 - The University named after Britain's Greatest Engineer

As I promised yesterday, I will be posting about Brunel University London. I was here today to present  at a management and engineering conference. Brunel is named after the great engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. He lived in the early 1800s and was the designer of bridges (that crossed over large valleys and were typically for railways), ships (the first iron ships to cross oceans under steam power) and the first tunnel under a major river (the Thames tunnel).

His most famous bridge is the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, UK where it spans over 700 feet above the River Avon. Work on that bridge began in 1831 and Brunel did not live long enough to see it finished. It was eventually finished in 1864 based on an early design of Brunel's although others completed the design.

In shipping, one of Brunel's triumphs was the SS Great Britain. Launched in 1845, it's main route was between Bristol and New York and in its day cost 117,000 British pounds. That only converts to 8.3 million British pounds in today's money, so pretty reasonable. It was not only one of the first iron steamers but it also was equipped with a screw propeller, a first.  It was 322 feet long, the largest sea vessel at that time, and took 14 days to cross the Atlantic. It did have back-up sail power just in case.

One other achievement was Paddington Railway Station, which Brunel designed and opened in 1854. It was one of his last major achievements as he passed away at the age of 53 in 1859.

The university began as Brunel Technical College in 1957 and was granted its Royal Charter as a university in 1966. The entire university has about 13,000 students (our business faculty at Ryerson has 11,000) and is now more than an engineering and technical university; it is a comprehensive university offering programs in all areas. Its campus has been part of many film shoots, including A Clockwork Orange, and television programs, such as Silent Witness.

The day ended with a train ride back to Moreton in Marsh.  What I hadn't planned on was that since it was Saturday, the afternoon footie matches were just finishing and so I had the pleasure of sharing my journey home (on their way back to Evesham) with some of Britain's finest football drunks....I mean fans.

Ale of the Day:  Whatever those guys were drinking.