Explore Britain

Engineering

Picture: Canary Wharf station, part of the award-winning Jubilee Line extension to the London underground Overseas Press and Picture Service

The United Kingdom has a long tradition of achievement in engineering. In the 19th century engineers such as Isambard Kingdom Brunel and George Stephenson led the way in the construction of bridges, railways and steamships. Brunel built the first ocean-crossing steam-powered ship, the Great Western, in 1838. In 1926 John Logie Baird demonstrated the first television system in London. The Channel Tunnel linking France and England was constructed jointly by the UK and France. It is the largest civil engineering project in Europe to be financed by the private sector, costing about £10,000 million. A recent example of large-scale engineering expertise is the construction of the extension to the Jubilee underground line in London, opened in time for the Millennium celebrations.

Science

Nobel Prize Winners
Nobel Prizes for the sciences have been won by over 70 British scientists, mare than any other country except the United States. Some well known winners are: Sir Alexander Fleming (1945) for discovering penicillin; Frances Crick, James Watson and Maurice Wilkins (1962) for the discovery of the structure of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid); and, more recently, Sir James black (1988) for his work in the field of physiology and medicine. Nine Nobel Prizes for literature have been won by British authors including Rudyard Kipling (1907), T.S. Eliot (1948) and sir William Golding (1983). The 1998 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to john Hume MP and David Trimble MP for helping to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in Northern Ireland.

 

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