Imperial College, University of London: The Fifth of a Series of Articles Describing the Facilities, Academic Curricula and Research Activities in the Aeronautical Engineering Departments of the British Universities

THE teaching and study of aeronautics at Imperial College date back to the year 1909 when the first of a series of evening courses in aero‐nautical science was given in the College and a number of scholarships for aeronautical research were founded. The establishment of a separate Department of Aeronautics had to wait, however, until after the first world war. In 1917, Sir Basil Zaharoff, a war‐time industrialist, offered to the University of London funds for the establishment of a Chair of Aviation to be held at Imperial College. Two years later financial backing for a new department came from the Treasury after the publication of the report of a committee set up by the Government to study the future of advanced education and research in aeronautics. This committee supported the idea of a central school of advanced study in aeronautics and thought that it should be built up around the nucleus provided by the Zaharoff Professorship. A few months later, in the late autumn of 1919, the Department of Aeronautics at Imperial College came into being.