Physical Research Laboratory

Physical Research Laboratory

Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad
Type	Research institution
Established	1947
Director	Anil Bhardwaj
Location	Ahmedabad , Gujarat , India 23°2′8″N 72°32′33″E / 23.03556°N 72.54250°E / 23.03556; 72.54250
Map	Map
Website	prl.res.in

The Physical Research Laboratory (abbr. PRL;

In June 2018, PRL scientists discovered exoplanet EPIC 211945201b or K2-236b, located 600 light years away from the Earth.[3]

The building of the PRL was designed by Achyut Kanvinde in 1962.^[4]

Organizational structure

PRL council of Management is on the top of the

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

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]

Research in Scientific Divisions

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

Astronomy and Astrophysics

This research program looks into optical,

• 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

References