Lawrence Hargrave Chair of Aeronautical Engineering

The Chair of Aeronautics was established in 1939 (Senate Minutes 5.9.1938). In 1951 it was renamed the Lawrence Hargrave Chair of Aeronautical Engineering. Senate adopted a motion approving the name change at its meeting on 7 August 1951, following a suggestion by the Universities Commission stating that the Commonwealth Government was anxious to commemorate the work of Lawrence Hargrave . [Senate Minutes 7/8/1951, see also File G57/3/4]In 1937, with the threat of another World War looming and an increasing realisation of the importance of a strong air defence, the Federal Government commissioned a report to investigate the level of aeronautical research and training within Australia. The author of the report, an English Aeronautics expert called H E Wimperis, found that a greater degree of engineering research should be funded and that universities, in particular, should be encouraged to undertake the required research investigations for which they should be properly equipped and staffed. Further to this he recommended that a Chair and a Department of Aeronautics should be established at one of the universities to ensure a steady supply of aeronautical engineers would be available should they be needed.The University of Sydney and the University of Melbourne were the front runners for the Chair, both having already made forays into the field of aeronautics but it was Sydney which was awarded the Chair by the Federal Government with Melbourne receiving an Associate Professorship in Meteorology. It was argued that since Melbourne already had an aerodynamics laboratory and the only large wind tunnel in Australia that they should award the Chair to Sydney so that research in this area could be stimulated in both the major population centres of Australia.The result was that the Vice-Chancellor informed Senate in September 1938 that the Commonwealth Government had decided to provide financial assistance for the establishment of a Chair of Aeronautics, and for aeronautical and hydrodynamical equipment. A sum of £32,000 would be made available for capital expenditure in connection with the Chair and an annual sum of £3,000 for maintenance purposes. The State Government was also making a grant of £18,000 for an hydrodynamics laboratory. In view of the urgency involved, the Senate authorised the Vice-Chancellor to advertise the Chair, and to have plans prepared for the new Aeronautical and Hydrodynamical Building. [1938 Report of Senate, 1939 Calendar, p. 1090-91] The search for a candidate for the Chair was undertaken. This proved to be problematic as the first, and suitably qualified, candidate, Dr Ludwig Hopf, was found to be unacceptable by the British Air Ministry by virtue of his nationality (he was a German resident) although he was appointed as a reader. An alternative candidate for the Chair was found in Arthur Stephens, a Fellow of St Johns College, Cambridge and an experienced pilot with several years of aeronautical research under his belt. At its meeting in April 1939, the University Senate resolved to appoint Stephens as Foundation Professor to the Chair of Aeronautics "with freedom to act as advisor to the government and industry" (G1/1/23 page 230). Although Stephens formally took up the offer of the Chair of Aeronautics on 1st September 1939, the outbreak of World War II resulting in his accepting duties with the British Air Ministry at the Royal Aircraft Establishment until 30th April 1940 when he resigned to sail to Sydney. In 1951, Stephens became a member of the Defence Research and Development Policy Committee of the Commonwealth Government; this committee advised the Department of Supply on aeronautical research policy in Australia. In July 1956, Stephens resigned to take up the Chair of Aeronautical Engineering at Queen's University, Belfast in Northern Ireland.In 1956, W H Wittrick succeeded Stephens as Lawrence Hargrave Professor of Aeronautical Engineering.  Wittrick, a Cambridge graduate, was the University of Sydney's first PhD graduate; graduating on 28 April 1951 with his thesis “Torsion and bending of swept and tapered wings with ribs parallel to the root”. Wittrick worked mainly on structural issues with aircraft and gained many accolades including the Orville Wright Prize of the Royal Aeronautical Society for his research on minimising stress concentrations around aircraft windows. He also embraced the University's first computer facility, Silliac, and it became an integral part of the Departments research facilities.Wittrick resigned in 1964 to take up the Chair of Structural Engineering at the University of Birmingham. Following his departure, G A Bird was appointed to the Lawrence Hargrave Chair and was to oversee the next 26 years of change and expansion within the Department. Bird also started as a student in the department. He had graduated with a first class honours degree in 1952 and worked as a scientific officer at the Department of Supply until 1959. He then returned to the Department to lecture and undertake research leading to a PhD. He rose quickly through the academic ranks to the position of Professor and Head of Department in 1964. Following Bird's retirement in 1990, G P Steven, associate professor in the Department was appointed to the Chair to take over the reins of the Department.  Much of his research was  in the fields of numerical methods, especially the Finite Element Method (FEA) method for structural analysis, structural design and laboratory testing. Steven is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Science and Engineering and the Institution of Engineers. He left the University in 2000 to take up the position of Professor of Engineering at the University of Durham. He is a Professor Emeritus in the School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering. In 2001 the Department was merged with the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering to create the School of Aeronautical (now Aerospace), Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering [Senate noted the Vice-Chancellor's approval to the merger, Minutes 7 December 1998, 85/98] After the merger the position of the Hargrave Lawrence Chair was not filled for a number of years.Adjunct Professor Dr Greg Chamitoff became the fifth Lawrence Hargrave Professor in Aeronautical Engineering. He was appointed to the Chair in 2013. A renowned aeronautical engineer and NASA astronaut Dr Greg Chamitoff had previously been a visiting lecturer at the University of Sydney teaching courses in flight dynamics and control, and leading a research team in the development of flight control techniques for autonomous aircraft. He brought a vast experience and insights from working with government and industry as part of the International Space Station program to the position helping to achieve and develop a stronger aerospace industry in Australia. In 2020 he still held the Lawrence Hargrave Chair at the University of Sydney as well as the position of Professor of Engineering Practice; Director, AeroSpace Technology, Research & Operations (ASTRO); and Holder of the Zachry Teaching Professorship II at the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University. ['Astronaut to support aerospace' in University of Sydney News 11 July 2013, http://sydney.edu.au/news/84.html?newsstoryid=11925, https://engineering.tamu.edu/aerospace/profiles/gechamitoff-.html, accessed 1/7/2020]