William R. Sears Memorial Lecture

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The William R. Sears Memorial Lecture Series

The William R. Sears Memorial Lecture, established by the generous support of the Sears family – Mabel, David, Susan, Colin and Shelby – celebrates the work and life of Bill Sears (1913-2002), one of the most renowned aeronautical engineers and educators of the last century.

The lecture series highlights some of the most important advances and challenges in aerospace engineering today, presented by prominent experts who are pushing the boundaries of what is possible in the field.

About William R. Sears

William R. Sears (1913–2002) was a pioneering aerospace engineer, educator and pilot. Born in Minneapolis, he earned a bachelor's degree  in aeronautical engineering from the University of Minnesota and a PhD at California Institute of Technology under Theodore von Kármán. His studies focused on unsteady aerodynamics.

Sears' technical contributions focus on areas such as wing and airplane design, unsteady aerodynamics and flow separation, aeroacoustics and adaptive wind tunnels. Among his professional honors are the prestigious Prandtl Ring, von Kármán Medal, Daniel Guggenheim Medal, American Society of Mechanical Engineers Medal, and membership in the National Academy of Sciences and Engineering.

He worked at Northrop Aircraft on flying-wing designs and the P-61 Black Widow before joining Cornell University, where he founded and directed the Graduate School of Aeronautical Engineering as well as led the Center for Applied Mathematics. In 1974, he joined the University of Arizona, continuing research on aerodynamics and wind tunnel design. Sears is recognized for the Sears–Haack body, contributions to unsteady flow and transonic flight, and for founding the Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics.

As a skilled pilot, Sears logged over 8,000 flight hours in his own planes, including a Mooney Mite and a twin-engine Comanche. He was also an accomplished musician, performing as a drummer in a jazz quartet in Minnesota, a timpanist with an orchestra in Los Angeles, and a recorder in a chamber music ensemble in Ithaca, New York.

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Previous Lecturers

  • 2025: Mory Gharib – Hans W. Liepmann Professor of Aeronautics and Medical Engineering California Institute of Technology, presented "Flying on Mars: The Legacy of von Kármán."
  • 2023: Hans G. Hornung – Emeritus C.L. "Kelly" Johnson Professor Emeritus California Institute of Technology, presented "Unsteadiness Boundaries in Supersonic Flow Over Double Cones."
  • 2021: Dennis M. Bushnell – Chief scientist at NASA Langley Research Center, presented "30-Year Futures of Civilian Aviation."
  • 2019: Ronald J. Garan Jr. – Retired U.S. Air Force Colonel and Astronaut, presented "The Orbital Perspective."
  • 2018: Dewey H. Hodges – Professor, The Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, presented "Unified Approach for Accurate and Efficient Modeling of Composite Beams, Plates, and Shells."
  • 2017: Fay Collier – Associate Director Flight Strategy, Integrated Aviation Systems Program NASA ARMD, presented "The Value and Challenges of Integrated Technology Demonstrations."
  • 2016: Robert D. Gregg III – Chief aerodynamicist at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, presented "The Evolution of Winglets to the Max."
  • 2015: William S. Saric – University Distinguished Professor and George Eppright '26 Chair in Engineering, Texas A&M University-College Station, presented "It's not the Destination; It's the Journey."
  • 2014: John D. Anderson Jr. – Curator of Aerodynamics at the National Air and Space Museum at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. and Professor Emeritus in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park, presented "Breaking the Sound Barrier: The Intellectual Breakthroughs in Aerodynamics that Made It Possible."
  • 2012: Elaine Oran – American physical scientist and is considered a world authority on numerical methods for large-scale simulation of physical systems, presented "Bill Sears: An Appreciation."
  • 2011: Eli Reshotko – Kent H. Smith Professor Emeritus of Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, presented "Bill Sears: An Appreciation."
  • 2010: Fred Culick – Richard L. and Dorothy M. Hayman Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Professor of Jet Propulsion, Emeritus Professor, CalTech, presented "They Invented the First Airplane, But Not the Second."
  • 2009: Peter Lissaman – Aeronautics, specializing in wing design, presented "Bill Sears and Some Gossamer Memories."
  • 2008 (spring): Hans G. Hornung – Emeritus C. L. "Kelly" Johnson Professor of Aeronautics and Director of the Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology, presented.
  • 2008 (fall): Frank Borman – Retired Colonel, U.S. Air Force pilot, aeronautical engineer, test pilot and NASA astronaut, Commander of Apollo 8, the first mission to fly around the Moon, making him, along with crew mates Jim Lovell and Bill Anders, the first of only 24 humans to do so, presented.
  • 2007: Anatol Roshko – Canadian-born physicist and engineer. Theodore von Kármán Professor of Aeronautics, Emeritus at the California Institute of Technology, presented "The Circular Cylinder at High Reynolds Numbers."
  • 2005: Robert Liebeck – American aerodynamicist, professor and aerospace engineer at the Boeing Company, presented "Design of the Blended-Wing-Body Subsonic Transport."
  • 2004: Frank Marble – American scientist who worked in the field of aerodynamics and combustion at California Institute of Technology, presented "Response of a Thin Airfoil Moving in a Periodic Density Field."
  • 2003: John E. Ffowcs Williams  – Professor Emeritus of Engineering at the University of Cambridge and a former Master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, presented "Interference and Aeroacoustics."