Isambard Kingdom Brunel was a British engineer. Voted the second greatest Briton of all time in a 2002 BBC poll (after Winston Churchill), he is best known for the creation of the Great Western Railway, a series of famous steamships, and numerous important bridges. Though his projects were not always successful, they often contained innovative solutions to long-standing engineering problems. During his short career, Brunel achieved many engineering "firsts", including the building of the first tunnel under a navigable river and development of the first propeller-driven steamship, which was at the time also the largest ship ever built. Brunel was a heavy cigar smoker and suffered several years of ill health with kidney problems, before succumbing to a stroke at the age of fifty-three. Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isambard_Kingdom_Brunel _______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries: 1775: American Revolution: Patrick Henry made his "Give me liberty or give me death" speech to the Virginia House of Burgesses. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Henry) 1801: Tsar Alexander I acceded to the Russian throne after his father Paul I was brutally murdered. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_I_of_Russia) 1940: Pakistan Movement: The All India Muslim League adopted the Lahore Resolution. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_League) 1978: The first UNIFIL troops arrived in Lebanon for a peacekeeping mission along the Blue Line. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Line_%28Lebanon%29) 1996: Lee Teng-hui was elected President of the Republic of China in the first direct presidential election in Taiwan. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Teng-hui) _____________________ Wikiquote of the day: "Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!" -- Patrick Henry (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Patrick_Henry)