[1] The institute was founded by Professor Bidhu Bhusan Das, who was Director of Public Instruction, Odisha, at that time.

[1] Other notable physicists in the institute's early days included Prof. T. P. Das, of SUNY, Albany, New York, USA and Prof. Jagdish Mohanty of IIT Kanpur and Australian National University, Canberra.

[1] The experimental physics group encompasses accelerator-based research for advanced chemical and radioisotope analysis.

[3] Research at the IBL includes Rutherford back scattering, Particle-induced X-ray emission, accelerator mass spectrometry, channeling, ion implantation, surface modification and characterization, microbeam analysis and nuclear reaction studies.

[citation needed] The Institute runs regular pre-doctoral (Master of Philosophy) and doctoral (PhD.)