Tributes are being paid to Professor Geoffrey Lilley OBE, Head of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the University from 1964 to 1983, who has died at the age of 95.
Professor Lilley made major contributions to aeroacoustics research, including sonic boom and jet noise reduction, and in particular developed a theory for the generation and radiation of sound by turbulence. He inspired generations of aerospace engineers and was one of the very few who have flown the Gossamer Condor human-powered aircraft.
Throughout his career, Professor Lilley was directly involved in significant developments in aviation including membership, from 1955, of the UK Government’s Supersonic Transport Aircraft Committee, which led to the design of Concorde.
He received an OBE in 1981 and was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Aeronautical Society and the Aeroacoustic Medal of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1983. Although he retired from the University that year, as an Emeritus Professor, he was frequently seen on campus, contributing to seminars up until a few years before his death. One of his abiding and more unusual areas of interest concerned how owls can fly so silently. He was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Science at Southampton in 2004.
Outside the classroom, Professor Lilley was a founder member and Life President of the University’s Light Opera Society (LOpSoc). He will be remembered not just for his contributions to the University and his field, but also for his wit and skill as a raconteur.
A memorial service is being arranged for later in the year.
You can read a biography of Professor Lilley here.
You can find a longer obituary here.