The 2013 London Science Festival (Oct. 23 – 30, 2013) celebrates opening night with a 170-year-old engineering feat. From the festival news release,

To celebrate the launch of London Science Festival 2013, the Brunel Museum and Science London (British Science Association) present an evening of engineering, fun, music and cocktails on the evening of Wednesday 23 October [6:30 – 11 pm], on the site of the World’s first underwater tunnel.

Mingle with some of the UK’s top engineers and find out about engineering past, present and future with a range of talks, exhibitions and activities around the Brunel Museum’s historic buildings.

Join staff from the Museum to discover the history behind this historic site, explore the frontiers of modern engineering with our talks programme curated by Science London, or relax in the café/bar.

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The Brunel Museum in historic Rotherhithe is directly above the Thames Tunnel which opened 170 years ago this year. This is where Isambard Kingdom Brunel began his extraordinary career, aged nineteen years. Working with his father Sir Marc Brunel, he helped build the first tunnel under a river anywhere in the world.

The Grand Entrance Hall, where young Brunel nearly drowned, has been opened up for the first time. Beneath the Museum gardens, a tiny doorway and scaffolding stairs lead down into a hidden amphitheatre half the size of Shakespeare’s Globe.

Join us in celebrating science, engineering and innovation on a truly remarkable historic site.

» Tickets for  The Brunel Ball, at the Brunel Museum on 23 October, are on sale now at www.londonsciencefestival.com/2013/brunelball  / £20 per person

Here’s a picture of another event which took place at the Thames underwater tunnel,

You can find the 2013 London Science Festival’s programme of events here.