Born into a poor family he struggled in his early years and rose to become the Vice-Chancellor of Bangalore University.
The Institute has a network of laboratories and observatories located in various places in India, including Kodaikanal (the Kodaikanal Solar Observatory), Kavalur (the Vainu Bappu Observatory), Gauribidanur, Hanle (the Indian Astronomical Observatory) and Hosakote.
While the Vainu Bappu Observatory is one of the field stations of the Bangalore based Indian Institute of Astrophysics, which is primarily devoted to research activities using the optical telescopes, the other field stations at the Kodaikanal Solar Observatory and at Gauribidanur are equipped for solar observations and radio astronomy programmes respectively.