Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) is the foremost research institute in India. It is a deemed University (autonomous institute) of the University of Mumbai, and its degrees are awarded by the University of Mumbai. It was established in 1945 and was given the status of deemed university in June 2003.

The institute does fundamental research in the fields of Chemistry, Mathematics, Computer Science, Public Health, Biology, Physics and Science Education.

The research in TIFR are categorized into three major schools:

• The School of Mathematics,

• The School of Natural Sciences and

• The School of Technology and Computer Science.

The TIFR also includes institutes outside its main campus in Colaba, Mumbai. This includes The Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education at Deonar, Mumbai; The National Centre for Radio Astrophysics at Pune and The National Centre for Biological Sciences at Bangalore.

The institute does work in many core fields like Algebra, Algebraic Geometry, Lie Groups, Representation Theory and Quantum Groups, Theory of Numbers, Combinatorics, Differential Geometry, Topology, Mathematical Physics, Astronomy and Astrophysics, Molecular Biology, Nuclear & Atomic Physics, Theoretical Physics, alongside many others.

The TIFR has a large library with more than 100,000 books and journals. It also has a powerful central computing facility and is connected to the world grid by high speed communication networks. The institute is one of the few in India which provides facility of a liquid helium for very low temperature experimental studies in Physics.