Geoffrey Lilley was born 16 November 1919, the son of Michol Morland Dessau and Emily Lilley.

Joined the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1935 but later resigned as a result of myopia.

Assistant to Chief Engineer at Kodak, Wealdstone in 1938 in the design of the Air Conditioning System for the new Film Coating and Drying Plant, which was installed and operational in June 1939.

In 1940 joined Vickers Armstrongs Weybridge working on numerous aircraft and high-speed bomb projects. He designed the 13' x 9' low speed wind tunnel, which remains operational at British Aerospace, Wharton.

Awarded BSc(Eng) with First Class Honours from Imperial College (London) and MSc(Eng) and DIC in 1945.

In 1946 he was a founder lecturer at the College of Aeronautics, Cranfield, and became Professor of Experimental Fluid Dynamics in 1961. Joined Southampton University in 1963, as Professor and Head of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. In 1983 was awarded the title Professor Emeritus.

In 1948 commenced research into jet noise and its reduction, and with A. D. Young and R. Westley patented the corrugated noise reduction nozzle fitted to all Civil Jet Aircraft 1959-1970.

He was co-author of "Complex Turbulent Flows" (1983) with S. J. Kline and B. Cantwell.

Past member of the former Aeronautical Research Council, and the former Noise Advisory Council and Chairman of its Working Party on Aircraft Noise. Technical Advisor to the 1969 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) International Conference on the Sonic Boom.

Founder member of the Human-Powered Aircraft Committee of The Royal Aeronautical Society and flew the Gossamer Condor Aircraft, designed by Paul MacCready, at Shafter in 1978.

Awarded the title OBE in 1981. A past consultant to Rolls Royce, Lockheed and Boeing.

Received the Gold Medal of the Royal Aeronautical Society and The Aeroacoustics Award of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) in 1983.

Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and the Institution of Mathematics and its Applications. In 2000, he was a Visiting Scientist at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Langley Research Center.