The 2014 IET Surrey Schools Christmas Lecture
From Montgolfier to Concorde and Beyond , was the title of this years lecture held at the University of Surrey on December 4th. This described how aviation design and flight aerodynamics had evolved over the years. Our presenter Dr Paul Bruce, an aerodynamicist and lecturer at London's Imperial College, fascinated the audience with his take on the unique challenges of designing craft of all shapes and sizes to defy gravity. Starting from the early hot air balloon pioneers, Paul moved on to consider conventional aeroplanes and hightlight some key advances in their development which have enabled engineers to produce today's state-of-the-art aircraft. "Excellent presentation of a very interesting subject. It was pitched for a children's lecture, although it did become slightly complicated at time…