Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

deemed

research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are the most important sites at which knowledge production occurs, along with "intergenerational kn ...

located in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

that is dedicated to basic research in mathematics and the sciences. It is a Deemed University and works under the umbrella of the Department of Atomic Energy of the

Government of India The Government of India ( ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

. It is located at Navy Nagar, Colaba, Mumbai, with a campus in

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

, International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS), and an affiliated campus in Serilingampally near

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern Indi ...

. TIFR conducts research primarily in the natural sciences, mathematics, the biological sciences and theoretical computer science.

History

In 1944, Homi J. Bhabha, known for his role in the development of the Indian atomic energy programme, wrote to the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust requesting financial assistance to set up a scientific research institute. With support from J.R.D. Tata, then chairman of the

Tata Group The Tata Group () is an Indian multinational conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai. Established in 1868, it is India's largest conglomerate, with products and services in over 150 countries, and operations in 100 countries across six continent ...

, TIFR was founded on 1 June 1945, and Homi Bhabha was appointed its first director. The institute initially operated within the campus of the Indian Institute of Science,

before relocating to Mumbai later that year. TIFR's new campus in Colaba was designed by

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

-based architect

Helmuth Bartsch Helmuth is both a masculine German given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name; *Helmuth Theodor Bossert (1889–1961), German art historian, philologist and archaeologist *Helmuth Duckadam (born 1959), Romanian forme ...

and was inaugurated by Prime Minister

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian Anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India du ...

on 15 January 1962. Shortly after Indian Independence, in 1949, the

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (IAST: ''vaigyanik tathā audyogik anusandhāna pariṣada''), abbreviated as CSIR, was established by the Government of India in September 1942 as an autonomous body that has emerged as the l ...

(CSIR) designated TIFR to be the centre for all large-scale projects in nuclear research. The first theoretical physics group was set up by Bhabha's students B.M. Udgaonkar and K.S. Singhvi. In December 1950, Bhabha organised an international conference at TIFR on elementary particle physics. Several world-renowned scientists attended the conference, including Rudolf Peierls, Léon Rosenfeld, William Fowler as well as Meghnad Saha, Vikram Sarabhai and others providing expertise from India. In the 1950s, TIFR gained prominence in the field of

cosmic ray Cosmic rays are high-energy particles or clusters of particles (primarily represented by protons or atomic nuclei) that move through space at nearly the speed of light. They originate from the Sun, from outside of the Solar System in our own ...

physics, with the setting up of research facilities in

Ooty Ooty (), officially known as Udhagamandalam (also known as Ootacamund (); abbreviated as Udhagai), is a city and a municipality in the Nilgiris district of the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located north west of Coimbatore and ...

and in the Kolar gold mines. In 1957, India's first digital computer,

TIFRAC TIFRAC (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Automatic Calculator) was the first computer developed in India, at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai. Initially a TIFR Pilot Machine was developed in the 1950s (operational in 19 ...

was built in TIFR. Acting on the suggestions of British physiologist Archibald Hill, Bhabha invited Obaid Siddiqi to set up a research group in molecular biology. This ultimately resulted in the establishment of the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bangalore twenty years later. In 1970, TIFR started research in radio astronomy with the setting up of the Ooty Radio Telescope. Encouraged by the success of ORT, Govind Swarup persuaded J. R. D. Tata to help set up the

Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope The Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT), located near Pune, Junnar, near Narayangaon at khodad in India, is an array of thirty fully steerable parabolic radio telescopes of 45 metre diameter, observing at metre wavelengths. It is operated by t ...

near

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

TIFR attained the official deemed university status in June 2002. To meet the ever-growing demand of space needed for research labs and accommodation institute is coming up with a new campus at

Research

Research at TIFR is distributed across three schools, working over the mathematical sciences, natural sciences, technology and computer science.

School of Mathematics

Since its birth in the 1950s, several contributions to mathematics have come from TIFR School of Mathematics. Notable contributions from TIFR mathematicians include

Raghavan Narasimhan Raghavan Narasimhan (August 31, 1937 – October 3, 2015) was an Indian mathematician at the University of Chicago who worked on real and complex manifolds and who solved the Levi problem In mathematics, in the theory of several complex variabl ...

's proof of the embedding of open

Riemann surface In mathematics, particularly in complex analysis, a Riemann surface is a connected one-dimensional complex manifold. These surfaces were first studied by and are named after Bernhard Riemann. Riemann surfaces can be thought of as deformed ver ...

s in

\mathbb^3

, C. S. Seshadri's work on projective modules over

polynomial ring In mathematics, especially in the field of algebra, a polynomial ring or polynomial algebra is a ring (which is also a commutative algebra) formed from the set of polynomials in one or more indeterminates (traditionally also called variables ...

s and M. S. Narasimhan's results in the theory of pseudo differential operators. Narasimhan and Seshadri wrote a seminal paper on stable vector bundles, work which has been recognised as one of the most influential articles in the area. M. S. Raghunathan started research at TIFR on

algebraic Algebraic may refer to any subject related to algebra in mathematics and related branches like algebraic number theory and algebraic topology. The word algebra itself has several meanings. Algebraic may also refer to: * Algebraic data type, a data ...

and discrete groups, and was recognised for his work on rigidity.

School of Natural Sciences

The School of Natural Sciences is further split into seven departments working in several areas of

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which ...

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the elements that make up matter to the compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions: their composition, structure, proper ...

and

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary ...

. Within physics, the Department of Theoretical Physics was set up by Bhabha, who conducted research in high energy physics and Condensed Matter Physics. The department worked on the major advances in this period such as gauge theories, string theory,

renormalisation Renormalization is a collection of techniques in quantum field theory, the statistical mechanics of fields, and the theory of self-similar geometric structures, that are used to treat infinities arising in calculated quantities by altering va ...

and

superconductivity Superconductivity is a set of physical properties observed in certain materials where electrical resistance vanishes and magnetic flux fields are expelled from the material. Any material exhibiting these properties is a superconductor. Unlike ...

. The Department of

Astrophysics Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline said, Astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the nature of the h ...

works in areas like stellar binaries,

gravitational waves Gravitational waves are waves of the intensity of gravity generated by the accelerated masses of an orbital binary system that propagate as waves outward from their source at the speed of light. They were first proposed by Oliver Heaviside i ...

and

cosmology Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in Latin by German philosopher ...

. TIFR is involved in building India's first gravity wave detector. The High Energy Physics Department, TIFR has been involved in major accelerator projects like the

KEK , known as KEK, is a Japanese organization whose purpose is to operate the largest particle physics laboratory in Japan, situated in Tsukuba, Ibaraki prefecture. It was established in 1997. The term "KEK" is also used to refer to the laboratory ...

, Tevatron, LEP and the LHC. TIFR also runs the Pelletron particle accelerator facility. Bhabha's motivation resulted in the development of an NMR spectrometer for solid state studies. The Department of Condensed Matter Physics and Material Sciences also conducts experimental research in high-temperature superconductivity, nanoelectronics and nanophotonics.

School of Technology and Computer Science

The School of Technology and Computer Science grew out of early activities carried out at TIFR for building digital computers. Today, its activities cover areas such as Algorithms, Complexity Theory, Formal Method, Applied Probability, Learning Theory, Mathematical Finance, Information Theory, Communications, etc.

Department of Biological Sciences

The Department Of Biological Sciences was set up by Obaid Siddiqi in early 1960s as a

molecular biology Molecular biology is the branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecular basis of biological activity in and between cells, including biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactions. The study of chemical and phys ...

group. Over the years has expanded to encompass various other branches of modern biology. The department has fourteen labs covering various aspects of modern molecular and cell biology.

Notable alumni

* Rohini Balakrishnan, professor, animal communication *

Harish-Chandra Harish-Chandra FRS (11 October 1923 – 16 October 1983) was an Indian American mathematician and physicist who did fundamental work in representation theory, especially harmonic analysis on semisimple Lie groups. Early life Harish-Chandr ...

, mathematician * Ranjan Roy Daniel (1923–2005), former Deputy Director of TIFR and recipient of Padma Bhushan * Jitendra Nath Goswami, chief scientist Chandrayaan-2 * Vijay Kumar Kapahi, astrophysicist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate *

Ashok Khemka Ashok Khemka (अशोक खेमका) is an Indian civil service bureaucrat. He is an Indian Administrative Service officer of 1991 batch. He is best known for cancelling the mutation of Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra's illegal lan ...

, civil servant * M. G. K. Menon, cosmic ray physicist * N. Mukunda, theoretical physicist * M.S. Narasimhan,

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemati ...

(FRS), mathematician * Jayant Narlikar, astrophysicist *

Thanu Padmanabhan Thanu Padmanabhan (10 March 1957 – 17 September 2021) was an Indian theoretical physicist and cosmologist whose research spanned a wide variety of topics in gravitation, structure formation in the universe and quantum gravity. He published ...

, astrophysicist * Yash Pal, science educator * M. S. Raghunathan, FRS, mathematician * Veronica Rodrigues, biologist * Ashoke Sen, FRS, string theorist * C. S. Seshadri, FRS, mathematician * Shobhona Sharma, professor * Obaid Siddiqi, biologist and recipient of Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan * B. V. Sreekantan, astrophysicist and Padma Bhushan recipient * E.C.G. Sudarshan, theoretical physicist * Govind Swarup, FRS, radio astronomer * K. R. K. Easwaran, molecular biophysicist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize laureate * Ghanshyam Swarup, molecular biologist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate * B. L. K. Somayajulu, geochemist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate *

G. Naresh Patwari Ganpathi Naresh Patwari (born 13 December 1972) is an Indian chemist and a professor at the Department of Chemistry of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. Known for his studies on vibrational spectroscopy, his work is reported to have wid ...

, chemist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate *

Maneesha S. Inamdar Professor Maneesha Inamdar is a stem cell and developmental biologist conducting research at Bangalore, India. She is presently Director of inStem (Institute for Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine), India’s first stem cell institute. ...

, stem cell biologist, N-Bios laureate * K.VijayRaghavan, PSA to the Government of India; Areas of research: Developmental Biology, Genetics and Neurogenetics *

Spenta R. Wadia Spenta R. Wadia (born 1 August 1950) is an Indian theoretical physicist with research interests in elementary particle physics, quantum field theory and statistical physics, string theory and quantum gravity. His other scientific interests are ...

, Founding Director, Infosys Homi Bhabha Chair Professor and Professor Emeritus, ICTS-TIFR; Areas of research: String Theory, Quantum Gravity, Statistical Mechanics

Affiliated research institutes

TIFR also includes institutes outside its main campus in Colaba and

: *

Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE) is a National Centre of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, India. The broad goals of the institute are to promote equity and excellence in science and mathematics educati ...

Deonar Deonar is a suburb of Mumbai. It has gained prominence for being the location of the largest dumping ground in Asia and also the location of city's largest abattoir, Deonar Municipal Abattoir. Important Landmarks India's largest abattoir is ...

, Mumbai * International Centre for Theoretical Sciences at

National Centre for Biological Sciences National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) in Bangalore, Karnataka, is a research centre specialising in biological research. It is a part of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) under the Department of Atomic Energy of the Go ...

* National Centre for Radio Astrophysics at

* National Balloon Facility at Hyderabad * TIFR Centre for Applicable Mathematics,

for Mathematics * TIFR Hyderabad

Visiting Students Research Programme

The Visiting Students Research Programme (VSRP) is a summer programme conducted annually during the summer season by the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. VSRP is offered in the subjects Physics and Astronomy, Chemistry, Mathematics, Biology and Computer Science.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tata Institute Of Fundamental Research 1945 establishments in India Research institutes established in 1945 Educational institutions established in 1945 Research institutes in Mumbai Multidisciplinary research institutes Deemed universities in Maharashtra