75 years of aerospace at Glasgow
At University of Glasgow we are celebrating the 75th anniversary of aerospace engineering during our 2025-2026 academic year. Our degree programme in aerospace was established in 1951, although teaching and research in aerospace go back to 1850 with the work of Prof. W.J.M. Rankine. We are planning a list of activities and events to mark our anniversary and we are to use this web page as the primary means of communication.
Objectives
The 75th anniversary of Aerospace Engineering at Glasgow is a great opportunity for out students and staff to reflect on the rich tradition and excellence of Glasgow University in their discipline. The celebrations aim to:
Showcase Glasgow as a centre of excellence in aerospace engineering.
Stimulate research ambition, realising we are builing on strong foundations.
Propel our degrees to the future via new initiatives, new laboratories and modules.
Raise the profile of the research carried out at Glasgow University by our students and staff.
News and Events
News
- First paper in CFD?
A S Thom of Glasgow University published numerical computations for the flow around a cylinder and validated the results using experiments. He did this work in 1933, and this is what we nowadays call Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD).
Link to research paper of A S Thom - Special collection of research works published by Glasgow University staff in the Aeronautical Journal:
Link to Aeronautical Journal Special Collection - A brief history of Aerospace at Glasgow
Dr D.G. Thomson has put together the history of Aerospace at Glasgow University in a recent editorial note published by the Aeronautical Journal:
Link to the history note on Aerospace at Glasgow University.
Calendar of events