Brunel, Sir Marc (1769-1849), was an architect and civil engineer best known for building the world’s first tunnel under a navigable river. In 1824, he formed a company to construct this tunnel, under the River Thames, in Rotherhithe, London. The tunnel was completed in 1843.
Marc Isambard Brunel was born on April 25, 1769, in Hacqueville, Normandy, France. He studied for the priesthood, but became more interested in carpentry. He left school to join the French navy. In 1793, in the midst of the French Revolution, Brunel fled to New York City. He designed the city’s Bowery Theatre and a cannon factory. He moved to England in 1799. There, he invented some of the earliest mass-production machinery, which he used to make ships’ pulley blocks at England’s Portsmouth Harbour. Brunel was knighted in 1841. He died on Dec. 12, 1849. His son, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, also became a well-known engineer.
See also Brunel, Isambard Kingdom .
