Indian Institute of Astrophysics

Type	Researchinstitution
Established	1971; 54 years ago (1971)
Director	Annapurni Subramaniam[1]
Location	Bengaluru , Karnataka , India
Campus	Urban
Website	www.iiap.res.in

TheIndian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), with its headquarters inBengaluru, is an autonomous research institute wholly funded by theDepartment of Science and Technology,Government of India. IIA conducts research primarily in the areas ofastronomy,astrophysics and related fields.

The institute has a network of laboratories and observatories in India, includingKodaikanal (theKodaikanal Solar Observatory),Kavalur (theVainu Bappu Observatory),Gauribidanur (theGauribidanur Radio Observatory),Hanle (theIndian Astronomical Observatory) andHosakote.

IIA contributed toAstrosat, India's first dedicated multi-wavelength space observatory.^[2] The Astrosat project is a collaborative effort of many different research institutions from India.^[3] The institute led the development of Ultra-Violet Imaging Telescope (UVIT).^[4]

Researchers at IIA work on a diverse set of topics related to Astronomy and Astrophysics. However, the research can be broadly classified under the following areas:

• Sun &Solar System^[5]
• Stellar Astronomy,Galactic Astronomy &Extragalactic Astronomy^[6]
• Cosmology &Theoretical Astrophysics^[7]
• Astronomical Instrumentation
• Space Astronomy

William Petrie (died: 1816), an officer of theEast India Company set up private observatory in his residence located inEgmore, Chennai (formerlyMadras), India.^[8][9] The main aim of the observatory, according to Petrie, was

"to provide navigational assistance to the company ships and help determine the longitudes by observing the eclipses of Moon and satellites of Jupiter".^[10]

In 1790, this private observatory was taken over by the East India Company, withMichael Topping (1747–96) as an astronomer. In 1792, the observatory was expanded and shifted to a complex inNungambakkam area of Chennai. This was the first modern observatory outsideEurope.^[9]

As early as 1881, Mr. Blanford, then Meteorological Reporter to the government of India, recommended "the improvement of the work of solar observations in order to obtain accurate measures of the sun’s heating power at the earth’s surface and its periodic variations".^[11] In May 1882, the government astronomer at Madras,Norman Robert Pogson, proposed the need for photography andspectrography of the sun and the stars using a twenty-inchtelescope, which could be at a hill station in South India.

On 20 July 1893 following a famine in Madras Presidency, which underscored the need for a study of the sun to better understand monsoon patterns, a meeting of theU.K.Secretary of State, Indian Observatories Committee, chaired byLord Kelvin, decided to establish a solar physics observatory atKodaikanal, based on its southern, dust free, high altitude location. Michie Smith was selected to be superintendent. Starting in 1895 there was a rapid transfer of work and equipment from theMadras Observatory to Kodaikanal and the observatory was founded on 1 April 1899. Later this Kodaikanal solar observatory become the foundation of modern Indian institute of Astrophysics.

In 1968 a new field observatory was started at Kavalur for stellar spectroscopy and photometry. Expansion of activities and interests have led to the formation of the new optics, Electronics and data analysis centre at Bengaluru and the setting up at Gauri Bidanur of a large low frequency array for studies of galactic and extragalactic structure. In 1971, the former Astrophysical Observatory was converted to an autonomous research Institute wholly financed by theGovernment of India, and to be known henceforth as the Indian Institute of Astrophysics. Presently, the Indian Institute of Astrophysics functions under the control of theDepartment of Science and Technology, Government of India.^[12]

The Institute awards two types of degrees.

• PhD^[13]
• Integrated MTech-PhD^[14]

• Vainu Bappu
• Vinod Krishan^[15]
• Annapurni Subramaniam

• List of astronomical observatories
• Mauritius Radio Telescope, a project co-led by the IIA
• Prajval Shastri

Wikimedia Commons has media related toIndian Institute of Astrophysics.

• Official website

14°16′47″N77°10′48″E / 14.27972°N 77.18000°E /14.27972; 77.18000

• Indian Institute of Astrophysics
• Astronomical observatories in India
• Astrophysics research institutes
• University of Calcutta affiliates
• 1786 establishments in India
• Research institutes in Bengaluru
• Buildings and structures in Bengaluru
• Educational institutions established in 1786
• 1971 establishments in Mysore State
• Educational institutions established in 1971

• CS1 errors: ISBN date
• All pages needing factual verification
• Wikipedia articles needing factual verification from September 2019
• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use Indian English from April 2017
• All Wikipedia articles written in Indian English
• Use dmy dates from April 2022
• Pages using infobox mapframe without shape links in Wikidata
• Articles using infobox university
• Commons category link from Wikidata
• Coordinates on Wikidata
• Pages using the Kartographer extension