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Isambard Kingdom Brunel
(9 Apr 1806 - 15 Sep 1859)
English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who was one of the great Victorian engineers. His works includes tunnels, steam ships, railways and bridges.
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Science Quotes by Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1 quote)
If the Commission is to enquire into the conditions “to be observed,” it is to be presumed that they will give the result of their enquiries; or, in other words, that they will lay down, or at least suggest, “rules” and “conditions to be (hereafter) observed” in the construction of bridges, or, in other words, embarrass and shackle the progress of improvement to-morrow by recording and registering as law the prejudices or errors of to-day.
[Objecting to any interference by the State with the freedom of civil engineers in the conduct of their professional work.]
[Objecting to any interference by the State with the freedom of civil engineers in the conduct of their professional work.]
— Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Letter (13 Mar 1848) to the Royal Commission on the Application of Iron in Railway Structures. Collected in The Life of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Civil Engineer (1870), 487. The above verbatim quote may be the original source of the following statement as seen in books and on the web without citation: “I am opposed to the laying down of rules or conditions to be observed in the construction of bridges lest the progress of improvement tomorrow might be embarrassed or shackled by recording or registering as law the prejudices or errors of today.” Webmaster has not yet found a primary source for his latter form, and suspects it may be a synopsis, rather than a verbatim quote. If you know of such a primary source, please inform Webmaster.
See also:
- 9 Apr - short biography, births, deaths and events on date of Brunel's birth.
- The First Voyage of the Steam-ship Great Western - a passenger’s journal (1838)
- The Great Eastern Steamship - from Scientific American (28 Jun 1856).
- Brunel: The Life and Times of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, by Angus Buchanan. - book suggestion.
- Booklist for Isambard Brunel.