Who is the greatest person that history has forgotten?

History has forgotten the father and son largely responsible for building the modern world, the two men that powered the Industrial Revolution.

This dashing French gentleman could very well be the most influential refugee in the history of the world; Sir Marc Isambard Brunel.

The greatest French export since the Baguette.

Marc’s life is something of a love story, for when Marc was in his teens he was apprenticed to a renowned clockmaker, one day when Mark was 17, an intelligent young woman from Britain came to stay with the clockmakers family.

Marc and the young woman swiftly fell in love, but sadly the French revolution was underway and heads were figuratively and literally rolling. Marc being an outspoken Royalist realised it was time to leave, so this young engineer travelled to America. Within a few years, Marc Brunel had become the finest engineer in New York City.

But, the moment Marc learned that Sophie had returned to Britain, he took his considerable talents to Britain where he worked with the Royal Navy, and when he arrived he married his love - Sophie Kingdom. Marc then set about inventing ingenious industrial manufacturing technologies, building machines that pioneered modern mass production, the earliest examples of mechanized production.

Marc and Sophie had children and when his son Isambard Kingdom Brunel was born, Marc was determined to provide his son with the very best education. As a child, his son Isambard was clearly gifted, so Marc would take his clever boy to work with him, and like a sponge, young Isambard learned from his father the great engineering master.

Marc recognised his sons clear genius and personally tutored him in mathematics and engineering principles.

While Isambard was finishing his education, his father created a boot making factory, building machines that changed manufacturing forever. But when the Napoleonic wars ended his factory went bust and Marc lost all his money, he ended up going to debtors prison, and Sophie chose to join her husband.

Meanwhile, Tsar Alexander I of Russia offered to pay Marc's debt and set the genius engineer up in Russia. When the Duke of Wellington found out, he personally made sure the government paid for the debt, keeping Marc Brunel and his promising son in Britain.

Like father like son, enter to the man, the myth, the forgotten giant; Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

Then when Marc's genius son finally returned from his studies and tutelage with great minds. Isambard, now himself a young man joined his father and together they worked on many pioneering engineering projects, across different disciplines, that essentially turbo-charged the Industrial revolution.

Together, Marc with his son Isambard as his assistant invented a new rotary printing press, along with a copying machine, and oddly a modernised sawmill in London. The industrious father and son duo even designed steamboats, a factory for making artillery, and designed two early suspension bridges for a distant French colony.

Then Marc began the idea for his pioneering tunnel under the Thames River in London. Marc invented the tunnel shield, which revolutionised tunnelling and is still used today. Brunel worked alongside his father on the tunnel, Marc eventually decided to step back and let his son make his name. Isambard took control of the tunnel project, while his dad helped and let his son take most of the glory. So begins the meteoric rise of Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

Arguably, the most ingenious and prolific figure in the history of engineering.

Isambard K. Brunel almost singlehandedly dragged the industrial revolution into existence, his ingenious designs revolutionised public transport, under this inspired engineers guidance vast rail networks were built across England, Wales, Scotland and the empire. Brunel carried out extensive improvements at many of Britain's major Docks, and he even built a rail line that used Atmospheric propulsion, basically a Victorian Hyperloop.

Brunel would go on to build gravity-defying suspension bridges, improve tunnelling and forever change marine engineering, when he launched the first modern ships.

While finishing his father's Thames Tunnel, Isambard was involved in a tunnel collapse that seriously injured the promising young engineer. But he didn't let this dampen his industrious spirit, while recovering Isambard designed one of the earliest and most well-built suspension bridges in the world.

Clifton Suspension Bridge, Bristol, designed by Isambard Brunel in 1830.

Letters between Marc Brunel and his son show that Marc helped design the suspension bridge, he recommended including a central support for the bridge, because he did not believe a single-span bridge of such length could be constructed. His son chose to ignore his fathers’ advice and designed a bridge that inspired future Civil Engineering the world over.

Isambard was just 27 years old when he began work on his bridge in Bristol, the rumour of his engineering genius spread quickly, and Isambard started more great works building rail networks, and train stations like Paddington.

This giant sits beneath a sky of his own creation, within his great Victorian cathedral of transportation, in the heart of central London.

Hospitals

‘When Britain entered the Crimea war in 1854, Brunel was asked by the British Government to make a pre-fabricated hospital. The primary requirement was that the construction could be easily transported and built to Turkey. This pioneering design became known as Renkioi hospital. It took Brunel only six days to complete and was considered a great success for its attention to hygiene and sanitation for a large number of occupants. The founder of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale, referred to Brunel’s creation as ‘Those magnificent huts’.’

Isambard Kingdom Brunel is perhaps most famous for switching to marine engineering and tackling his ages biggest transport issue: Transatlantic shipping. Predicably he quickly revolutionised naval engineering forever.

Brunel built the world’s first metal hulled, screw propeller-driven, steam-powered ship, basically the first modern ship. And just like that, Brunel cut the time to cross the Atlantic in half.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel would build the largest ship ever, three times in a row, that's right, three separate ships which revolutionized marine engineering and ocean shipping, to this day.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel died when he was just 53 years old, in his short life his genius propelled the Industrial Revolution and changed the world.