Irrigation Engineering

History of Famous British engineers

Britains history is composed of very famous engineers throughout their history. It made me decide to name just a few of the most popular with links to web sites with more details on the various engineers.

Thomas Savery (1650-1715)
Thomas Savery was a British military engineer and inventor who in 1698, has patented the first steam engine gross.

James Watt (1736-1819)

Was the son of a merchant, was born at Greenock, Scotland, in 1736. At the age of nineteen Watt was sent to Glasgow to learn the trade of a mathematical instrument maker.

After spending a year in London, Watt returned to Glasgow in 1757 where he established his own company violin. Watt quickly earned a reputation as a quality engineer and has been used on the Forth & Clyde Canal and the Caledonian Canal. He also participated in the improvement of harbors and the deepening of Forth, Clyde and other rivers in Scotland.

Thomas Telford (1757-1834) (famous bridge builder)

Was the son of a shepherd, was born in Westerkirk, Scotland in 1757. At age 14 he was apprenticed to a stonemason. He worked for some time in Edinburgh and in 1792 he moved to London where he participated in the construction of additions to Somerset House. Two years later, he found work at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

George Stephenson (1781 - 1848)

Was a British engineer who designed a famous and historically important locomotive named Rocket steam, and is known as the Father of British Steam Railways.

George Stephenson was born in Wylam, England, 9.3 miles (15 km) west of Newcastle upon Tyne. In 1748, a wagonway - an arrangement similar to a railroad, but with pieces of wood and designed to support horse-drawn carts - had been built from the Wylam Colliery to the River Tyne, in the course of run for several miles (several kilometers). The younger Stephenson grew up near her, and in 1802 obtained a job as an engine-man at the coal mine. For the next ten years his knowledge of steam engines increased, until in 1812 he stopped operating them for a living, and began to build them.

Charles Babbage (1791-1871) (inventor of the first computer)

Charles Babbage was born in Teignmouth, Devon, in 1791. Educated at Trinity College Cambridge, he spent most of his life trying to build calculating machines. The first of these was designed to compute tables of logarithms and similar functions performed by repeated addition by sprockets. A small prototype model of the difference engine was produced in 1822 and this resulted in receiving a grant from the government to build a larger machine.

Robert Stephenson (1803-1859)

In 1827 he began working on the Rocketlocomotive. Robert capacity as an engineer has been illustrated by the success of the rocket at Rainhill in October 1829.

Isaambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-1859)

He was born in Portsmouth April 9, 1806. He was educated at Hove, near Brighton. In 1823, Brunel has been working with his father on the construction of the tunnel under the Thames. He was later appointed resident engineer on site.

In 1829 Brunel designed a suspension bridge across the River Avon at Clifton. Its original design was rejected on the advice of Thomas Telford, but an improved version was accepted but the project had to be abandoned due to lack of funds.

Sir William Arrol (1839-1913)

Sir William Arrol was born in 1839 and became famous for his construction of the Forth Rail Bridge between North and South Queensferry, Scotland. The bridge with its three towers overhanging each of which is 104m (340 feet) high was the.