Helen Keller (c. 1904)
Helen Keller (1880 – 1968) was only 19 months old when she lost her ability to hear and see. But despite her otherwise crippling disabilities, Keller would rise to prominence as America’s leader of laborers’, women’s, and the disabled’s rights. Keller was a celebrated lecturer and writer. According to History, Keller was, “Widely honored throughout the earth and invited to the White House by every U.S.A president from Grover Cleveland to Lyndon B. Johnson, Keller altered the world’s perception of the capacities of the handicapped.” son, Keller altered the world’s perception of the capacities of the handicapped.”
Helen Keller
Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1857)
Once the runner up to the title of “greatest Briton of all time,” Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806 – 1859) dominated engineering in the 1800s through his efforts that revolutionized Great Britain. The London-based Design Museum attributes the construction of multiple railway lines, countless bridges (five of which were suspension bridges), a military field hospital, and three ships to Brunel. Robert Howlett captured this scene in 1857, where Brunel stands among the titanic anchor of the Great Eastern, a majestic steamship of his creation. The ship dwarfed any other vessel to sail during his time, being six times huger than anything which floated. The pioneer referred to the enormous ship as “Great Babe.”
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
