1909: Professor Ernest Dalby, FRS (1862 – 1936), Dean of the City and Guilds College, attended the Exhibition of Aircraft in Paris to celebrate Blériot’s cross-channel flight. While there, he was given sets of lecture notes on aeronautics by a French Professor.
A sub-committee that was then set up at Imperial College recommended the creation of a series of short courses of advanced lectures related to Aeronautics and providing scholarships for research in the branches of Chemistry, Physics and Engineering related to Aeronautics. A full post-graduate course was also proposed.
1910: Courses in Aeronautics were given in the Physics Department in the 1909/1910 and 1910/1911 academic years. They covered "The Dynamics of Mechanical Flight", given by Sir G. Greenhill, FRS (1847 - 1927), "Wind Pressures", given by H.R.A Matlock and "Light Petrol Motors for Aerial Work" by Col. Holden.
1911: No lectures were given in the 1911/1912 academic year due to an inability to obtain lecturers.
1912: Lectures resumed, however, they were discontinued as many students who attended the courses were insufficiently prepared to take full advantage of them. This emphasised the necessity of having a preliminary three year course covering the background knowledge required.
1914: Imperial College’s advanced aeronautics diploma (DIC) course had trained a number of people who became engaged in war-related activities. Many of the early graduates worked at the Royal Aircraft Factory (later renamed as the Royal Aircraft Establishment).
1916: The City and Guilds College was ready to resume educating Aeronautical engineers. A syllabus was drawn up for a Diploma course in Aeronautical Engineering. Two students signed up for the course in 1916/1917.
1917: A reference to Aeronautics first appeared in the programme for 1917/1918, viz "Department of Mechanical Engineering and Automotive Power (including Aeronautical Engineering)".
1918: The Civil Aerial Transport Committee recommended two higher educational institutions to be funded to teach aeronautics, and one of them should be in London (the other was at Cambridge).
1919: The Air Board introduced a benefactor who offered £25,000 (about £1.6m in today's money) to the University of London for a new Chair. It was later revealed that the donation was given by Sir Basil Zaharoff to fund the Zaharoff Chair of Aviation. Dalby advised the council not to accept money unconditionally, but that it should be donated to found the Department of Aeronautics.
On 20 December, Sir Richard Glazebrook, FRS (1854 - 1935), accepted the Directorship of the Department of Aeronautics and was appointed the Zaharoff Chair of Aviation. Glazebrook studied Physics under James Maxwell and Lord Rayleigh. His research focused on electrical standards and aviation.
1920: On 24 March, Glazebrook completed a series of five lectures on the Aeronautics course in the newly founded Department of Aeronautics. Read the article on Aeronautics at the Imperial College that featured in the April 1920 edition of Nature magazine.
Sir Richard Glazebrook was succeeded by Sir Leonard Bairstow, CBE FRS FRAeS (1880-1963), Professor of Aerodynamics and Zaharoff Chair of Aviation. Bairstow's work focussed on the design of wind tunnels and aircraft and contributed much to the understanding of aircraft stability. He was also known for the Bairstow's method, an efficient algorithm to find roots of a real polynomial of any degree.
