Which engineer designed SS Great Britain, the pioneering iron-hulled, screw-propelled steamship?

Isambard Kingdom Brunel designed SS Great Britain, the pioneering iron-hulled, screw-propelled steamship.

Brunel created the vessel for the Great Western Steamship Company. Launched at Bristol in 1843, it combined an iron hull with a screw propeller, two technologies that were still relatively new for large ocean-going ships. Its design helped demonstrate that steamships could operate successfully on long-distance routes.

SS Great Britain initially carried passengers between Liverpool and New York. It later served on routes to Australia and was eventually used as a floating storage vessel in the Falkland Islands. The ship was returned to Britain in the 1970s and preserved in the dry dock where it was launched.

Brunel is sometimes confused with John Scott Russell, who worked on other important ships and was involved in shipbuilding. Russell was not SS Great Britain’s principal designer.