About Us
Sophrodyne Aerospace
Sophrodyne Aerospace is a research and design consultancy, based in Glasgow, Scotland and led by Dr Richard E Brown.
The company was formed in 2015.
We specialise in providing responsive, research-quality aerodynamic expertise to enterprises large and small, helping them to understand, innovate and produce on commercial timescales.
Dr Brown is an experienced Aerospace Engineer, with a 30-year track record in modelling and understanding aircraft and
helicopter aerodynamics, aerospace education, and air vehicle analysis and design.
He graduated with a first-class BSc(ENG) degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in 1988 before obtaining his MSc in Aerodynamics and Flight Mechanics at the Cranfield Institute of Technology in 1990. He then went on to achieve his PhD in Theoretical Fluid Mechanics from the University of the Witwatersrand in 1996.
He has had a thirty-year long career so far in aerospace, starting as a design engineer in the South African helicopter industry in the early 1990s. He followed this industrial experience with a long and illustrious academic career, starting at the University of the Witwatersrand and Imperial College London, and ending as full professor and deputy head of department at both the University of Glasgow and at Strathclyde University in Scotland.
During his career he has assisted many companies and organisations around the world in developing new aerodynamic tools, applying existing methodologies with confidence, and suggesting and implementing new and innovative solutions to aerodynamic design problems.
He has published over a hundred technical articles on aerospace subjects and has a wide range of experience in aeronautical systems from rotorcraft to hypersonic spaceplanes. He has a particularly deep knowledge of fundamental aerodynamic theory, and specialises in putting this knowledge to practical use in innovative and effective ways.
He has directed Sophrodyne Aerospace since its inception in 2016, and has not looked back since. He specialises in providing quality, responsive and relevant input, whether it be in assisting a company to achieve optimal aerodynamic performance from their product, in helping an attendee on one of his courses achieve the best possible understanding of the subject matter at hand, or in delivering an entertaining and thought-provoking evening lecture on a topical engineering subject.
He graduated with a first-class BSc(ENG) degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in 1988 before obtaining his MSc in Aerodynamics and Flight Mechanics at the Cranfield Institute of Technology in 1990. He then went on to achieve his PhD in Theoretical Fluid Mechanics from the University of the Witwatersrand in 1996.
He has had a thirty-year long career so far in aerospace, starting as a design engineer in the South African helicopter industry in the early 1990s. He followed this industrial experience with a long and illustrious academic career, starting at the University of the Witwatersrand and Imperial College London, and ending as full professor and deputy head of department at both the University of Glasgow and at Strathclyde University in Scotland.
During his career he has assisted many companies and organisations around the world in developing new aerodynamic tools, applying existing methodologies with confidence, and suggesting and implementing new and innovative solutions to aerodynamic design problems.
He has published over a hundred technical articles on aerospace subjects and has a wide range of experience in aeronautical systems from rotorcraft to hypersonic spaceplanes. He has a particularly deep knowledge of fundamental aerodynamic theory, and specialises in putting this knowledge to practical use in innovative and effective ways.
He has directed Sophrodyne Aerospace since its inception in 2016, and has not looked back since. He specialises in providing quality, responsive and relevant input, whether it be in assisting a company to achieve optimal aerodynamic performance from their product, in helping an attendee on one of his courses achieve the best possible understanding of the subject matter at hand, or in delivering an entertaining and thought-provoking evening lecture on a topical engineering subject.
Dr Brown has had an eventful 30-year career as an aerospace engineer. Read about his journey from young engineer
to senior academic to director of his own company here.
Dr Brown has three university degrees in various aspects of aerospace engineering.
Read more about Dr Brown's education here.
Dr Brown has over a hundred published articles on aerospace engineering, and these have been cited in over a
thousand other papers and reports by researchers from around the world.
Find out more about his published works here.
Over a dozen PhD students have graduated under Dr Brown's supervision, and now occupy positions in industry and academia around the world.
Read the story of Dr Brown and his students' research journey here.
Dr Brown and his students have garnered several international awards for their work in aerospace engineering.
Read about those awards here.
Dr Brown has served in several influential positions within the international engineering community.
Read about his professional activities here.
© Sophrodyne Ltd 2024
