Physical Research Laboratory

PRL council of Management is on the top of the hierarchy of the organizational structure of PRL.[5] The director of PRL works under it. The director is consulted by various scientific divisions, the dean, and the registrar to work consistently. PRL has the following scientific divisions: Astronomy & Astrophysics, Solar physics, Planetary sciences, Space & Atmospheric sciences, Geosciences, Theoretical physics, and Atomic, Molecular & Optical Physics. The dean of PRL offers several academic services. Administration, workshop, construction & maintenance, computational services, and library are managed by the registrar of PRL. The administration takes care of general administration, stores & purchases, accounts, medical cell, and Hindi cell.

The Physical Research Laboratory was founded on 11 November 1947[2] by Dr. Vikram Sarabhai. The laboratory had a modest beginning at his residence, with research on cosmic rays.

The institute was formally established at the M.G. Science Institute, Ahmedabad, with support from the Karmakshetra Educational Foundation and the Ahmedabad Education Society. After retiring from the India Meteorological Department, Prof. Kalpathi Ramakrishna Ramanathan joined as the first Director of the institute. The initial focus was research on cosmic rays and the properties of the upper atmosphere as the science behind very high energetic particles bombarding the Earth was not much known.[6] The dream of the founders was to establish a leading institute at Ahmedabad for conducting fundamental research on cosmic rays and some other selected areas of Physics. Atmospheric physics being Prof. Ramanathan's primary research interest, the Department of Atmospheric Physics was added to extend the scope of research activities. In some M. G. Science Institute rooms, the laboratory was initiated with few research students and assistants.

The overall scientific programs expanded in the direction of a unified study of the various types of radiation imparted on the Earth, with the growth of the laboratory. The need to incorporate radiophysics, theoretical physics, and an electronics group into the then existing atmospheric physics and cosmic ray groups was strongly felt in the interest of adequate implementation of this type of program. For the financial support, the Atomic Energy Commission of the Government of India was requested, and the request was accepted in 1949. A Council of Management for PRL was framed in 1950 with support from several bodies such as erstwhile Government of Bombay, Ministry of Natural Resources and Scientific Research, Karmakshetra Educational Foundation, Ahmedabad Educational Society, and Atomic Energy Commission. The ozone observing station was set up at Mount Abu by Prof. Ramanathan in 1951. On the date of October 12, 1951, the first measurement of ozone was performed using Dobson ozone spectrophotometer.

As the number of activities and workers were increasing, Ahmedabad Education Society decided to provide land for a separate building. Ahmedabad Education Society and Karmakshetra Educational Foundation contributed money for the cost of the building. Nobel laureate Prof. C. V. Raman placed the foundation stone of the building on February 15, 1952 and the late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru inaugurated the first building of the campus on April 10, 1954. In the years of 1957–58, the scientists of PRL were taking part in a variety of scientific programs related to Earth sciences. Due to this, a need for in-house development of radiation detectors and electronic instruments was felt. Thus, PRL started developing and implementing Meson Telescopes, Photometers, Geiger-Muller Counters, Ionosonde, Dobson Spectrometers, etc. For the observations of airglow during the nighttime, ozone concentration in the atmosphere, the intensity of cosmic rays, etc., a research station at Gulmarg in Kashmir was established in 1955 by PRL. As this station was giving fruitful results, it was decided to set up a complete High Altitude Research Laboratory at Gulmarg in 1963. In the 1960s, many of[rocket payloads were being manufactured at PRL. So PRL started emerging as the center for developing payloads for rockets.

Research on lunar meteorites and rocks and Earth sciences was started as they were favorite subjects of Prof. Devendra Lal, who took charge of the position of director of PRL in 1972. Various novel branches of studies such as Astronomy and Plasma Physics were launched in the 1970s. The research on Plasma Physics had two significant goals. One was to provide theoretical and experimental support to the then present research at PRL on space and ionosphere. The other was to commence research on the plasma of high temperature, which was crucial for the development of fusion research. The second goal was shifted and emerged as an institute named Institute for Plasma Research (IPR), Gandhinagar. In the 1970s, a program on atomic and Molecular physics was added to the existing programs as atomic and molecular reactions are crucial in order to understand astrophysics and atmospheric science. During the same era, three radio telescopes were also developed at Rajkot, Surat, and Thaltej(Ahmedabad). They were established with an aim to measure the speed of solar wind via observing radio source scintillations at the same time with all telescopes.[2]

Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, the Laboratory's founder.

The research in various scientific divisions of PRL is as follows:[1]

The Physical Research Laboratory holds various seminars and public lectures. It has a workshop, computer centre, library and various other laboratories. It also offers a five-year doctoral programme in physics, with specialisations in theoretical physics and complex systems, outer space and atmospheric sciences, quantum optics and quantum information, astronomy and astrophysics (infrared, sub-mm and radio astronomy, Solar physics, planetary and geosciences). The admission is through a written test and interview.

The research institution offers national awards to scientists who have made outstanding contributions in the field of science and technology. The awards presented are:

• Hari Om Ashram Prerit Senior Scientist Award
• Hari Om Ashram Prerit Vikram Sarabhai Research Awards
• PRL Award
• Aayushi award

• 1950s: Cosmic rays, atmospheric sciences
• 1960s: Theoretical physics, radio physics
• 1970s: Earth and planetary sciences infrared astronomy
• 1980s: Particle physics, Solar physics
• 1990s: Laser physics and quantum optics, non-linear dynamics and computational physics, astroparticle physics and cosmology
• 2000s: Quantum information, solar X-ray astronomy, submillimeter astronomy, planetary exploration
• 2010s: Exoplanet detection