Isambard kingdom Brunel beyond any doubt. What that man could do with todays technology would be mind boggling.
he constantly had to battle leading "accademics" of his day who said his designs wouldn't work only to prove them wrong.
his achievements are too long to list here
the Great western railway being just one of them, an every day i drive through Box tunnel i am in awe of his achievements.
incidently the entrance to the tunnel is vast but once inside the roof of the tunnel drops sharply, this is because the victorians we quite happy to enter a tunnel that seemed to be many feet above their heads. Little did they know how close to them it came in the dark
that same tunnel built for steam trains to run at 30mph (some victorians believed any faster and a person would suffocate) now comfortably handles trains at over 100mph. the tunnels measures just under 3km,and when it was built the two ends met at the middle and they were found to be less than 2 inches out !