The Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, set up in 1945 at the initiative of Dr Homi Bhabha, is home to some of the greatest scientists of India. Its portals impart knowledge in subjects ranging from Mathematics, Biology and Chemistry to Computer Science, Solid State Physics, Nuclear Sciences and Public Health.
The Institute has some 400 scientists working in various disciplines grouped into three major schools -- the School of Mathematics, the School of Natural Sciences and the School of Technology and Computer Science. The Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education at Deonar, Bombay, the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics at Pune and the National Centre for Biological Sciences at Bangalore for part of the Institute's activities.
The School of Mathematics has research interests in areas like Algebra, Algebraic Geometry, Lie Groups, Lie Algebra, Algebraic Groups, Representation Theory and Quantum Groups, Theory of Numbers, Combinatorics, Differential Geometry and Topology, Real and Complex Analysis, Ergodic Theory, Probability Theory on Groups and Mathematical Physics. It has a centre in Bangalore dedicated to the study of Applied Mathematics.
Scientists in the School of Natural Sciences work mainly in the fields of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Chemical Sciences, Condensed Matter Physics, High Energy Physics, Molecular Biology, Nuclear & Atomic Physics, Radio Astronomy and Theoretical Physics. The Institute is also actively involved in the field of educational research with a special emphasis on school level education as well as some aspects of public health.
The Institute has several field stations and research facilities in different parts of the country. A giant Meterwave Radio Telescope, the largest of its kind in the world, is operational at Khodad near Narayangaon, north of Pune in Maharashtra, and a large equatorially mounted cylindrical radio telescope and a high energy cosmic ray laboratory are operational at Udhagamandalam in Tamil Nadu. High-Energy Cosmic Ray and Gamma Ray laboratories are operated from Pachamarhi in Madhya Pradesh and a National Balloon Facility in Hyderabad. At Gauribidanur, the Institute’s scientists have built an extremely sensitive balance to study the difference between gravitational and inertial mass. A Heavy Ion Low Energy Accelerator capable of accelerating particles to moderate energies for studying heavy ion atomic interactions and a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Facility to study complex molecules are also housed in the Institute. The Institute's Dental Section has been actively involved in investigations pertaining to carcinogenic effects of tobacco.
In addition to the research laboratories, facilities include:
