The Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) was established in 1945 at the initiative of Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha.  Since 1962 it is housed at Navy Nagar Campus in South Bombay. The Institute is proud to have produced many of the finest scientists of India who have been involved in seminal research in fields ranging from Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry, Science, Physics and Science Education to some aspects of Public Health.

There are at present about 400 scientists in the Institute working in various disciplines grouped into two major schools: the School of Mathematics and the School of Physics. 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 also form a part of TIFR activities.

The Institute has several field stations and research facilities in different parts of the country. A Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope, the largest of it's kind in the world is coming up at Khodad near Narayangaon, north of Pune 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 Panchamarhi in Madhya Pradesh and Kolar Gold Fields in Kamataka. TIFR runs a National Balloon Facility in Hyderabad which is among the best in the world and has the geographical advantage of being close to the geomagnetic equator. At Gauribidanur, TIFR scientists have built an extremely sensitive balance to study the difference between gravitational and inertial mass. A Heavy Ton 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 TIFR. The Institute's Dental Section has been actively involved in investigations pertaining to carcinogenic effects of tobacco.

In addition to the research laboratories, the facilities of TIFR include:

A large library in India with more than one hundred thou sand book s and journal s in its collection. The library is fully computerized and provides micro-­film, microfiche, audio-video and compact disk reading facilities.

A powerful central computing facility together with individually assigned personal computers and workstations for computation, control and monitoring of experiments and data analysis.

A network connected to the world grid through high speed communication networks.

A liquid helium  facility for very  low temperature experimental studies.

A large work shop and glass blowing section for manufacturing high precision instruments.

Pioneering work done in the Institute in several areas has resulted in the establishment of new National organizations such as the Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering and Research (SAMEER) and the National  Centre for Software Technology was developed at the Institute, were transferred to the industry and other departments of the Government of India. The Tata Institute of Fundamental Research is recognized by the Government of India as the National Centre for Nuclear Science and Mathematics.

The stamp depicts the building s of TIFR with Dr. Homi Bhabha in the inset. Some of its installations figure on the first day cover.

Source : Information Folder issued by Indian Posts & Telegraph Department, Government of India