Award winning museum

If you’re visiting London and want to avoid the usual queues and exhorbitant entrance fees of the more renowned tourist attractions, why not view a piece of engineering history at the award winning Brunel Museum instead? http://www.brunel-museum.org.uk/index.asp

Featuring the extraordinary careers of both Sir Marc and Isambard Kingdom Brunel, you’ll be able to see and experience such feats of engineering as:

The Thames Tunnel (1825-43) ‘A triumph of ingenuity and perseverance in the face of floods, financial losses and human disaster’. Still in operation today, this was the first tunnel to be constructed under a navigable river with the use of a tunnel shield. As a regular special event, the museum conducts guided tours by tube train through the floodlit tunnel.

The Engine House – built to pump water out of the Tunnel. A notable example of 19th century architecture.

Brick Shaft – the original shaft adjoins the Engine House and was the first project of Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

The Shield – revolutionising modern tunnelling, this tunnelling shield was the invention of Sir Marc Brunel.

SPECIAL EVENT: During selected days in December, a £5 ticket will take you on a Thames Tunnel tour with underwater Christmas shopping at the museum. See website for further details. Sounds fun!

Forthcoming Training Courses

The Library is running some training courses this month which you might be interested in attending. There are two Lunchtime in the Library courses; Finding Patent Information on Wednesday 14th November at 12pm, and an Introduction to the Major Engineering Databases on Thursday 22 November at 12pm. Further information and details on how to book can be found on the Library webpages: http://www.lboro.ac.uk/library/skills/lunchtim.html

Also of interest is the Database of the Month session for November, which is on the IEEE Xplore. This session is on Wednesday 21 November from 10am – 11.30am. Further details and booking information can be found on the library webpages: http://www.lboro.ac.uk/library/skills/dbaseofmonth.html  

Why not come along to these sessions and find out more about the resources the library provides for you and your students?

Engineering highlights from the IRN

From November’s Internet Resources Newsletter:

 

Thomas Telford: Marking the 250th anniversary of his birth, an exhibition runs until 25th November at the National Galleries of Scotland. Click here for details. The Institution of Civil Engineers has also created a website devoted to and celebrating the famous engineer at http://www.thomastelford250.org/about/

Two Conferences of the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering: 

• Creating and Renewing Urban Structures: Tall Buildings, Bridges and Infrastructure, the IABSE Annual Meetings and Congress Chicago, USA, September 14-19, 2008 http://www.iabse.org/conferences/chicago2008/

• Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for Bridges, Buildings and Construction Practice, IABSE Conference, Helsinki, Finland, June 4-6, 2008  http://www.iabse.org/conferences/helsinki2008/   

EngineeringSpecifier is a new, online resource for the electronics industry. Up-to-date product information and industry news.

Construction Software Advice  - aims to assist contractors searching for the right software for their projects. Free of charge. 

Harvey Smith Recruitment “Harvey Smith Recruitment is a specialist recruitment consultancy focusing on the DESIGN side of the built environment, with an executive search arm for the CONSTRUCTION sector” … from website. Established 2003.

From the Massachusettes Institute of Technology, try their video-sharing site MIT Tech TV for science and engineering material. One of its goals is to “make it easier for members of the MIT community – and others – to find science, engineering, and MIT-related video on the web”. 

Find news for the nanotechnology community at Nanotechnology Product News Includes government activity related to the industry.