[2] Before Raman considered founding a research institute, he had approached the former Maharaja of Mysore seeking land to build office and conference premises for the Indian Academy of Sciences (IAS).

The Maharaja acceded to Raman's request and a 10-acre (40,000 m2) plot of land in the Malleshwaram suburb of Bengaluru was allotted to the Indian Academy of Sciences in 1934.

Raman, as President of the IAS, held an extraordinary meeting of the academy in 1941, and proposed that a research institute (to be named after himself) be built on the land.

As a Nobel Laureate, Raman enjoyed significant respect in Indian public life and was able to raise funds for the institute through private donations and fund-raisers without state involvement.

Equally the Raman Research Institute should not remain subordinate to the Indian Academy of Sciences but enjoy autonomy and a distinct statutory identity of its own.

Just before his death, Raman established a framework for the running of the institute, separating it completely from the Indian Academy of Sciences and giving it statutory autonomy.

Raman, who was fascinated by the colours of the biological kingdom, also had a wide collection of stuffed birds, beetles, and butterflies in the museum.

The research programme covers a broad spectrum of activities ranging from the synthesis of new liquid crystalline materials to display electronics.

Discoveries of the columnar phase formed by disc-like molecules and pressure induced mesomorphism are two of the early significant contributions made by the liquid crystal group.

In recent years the liquid crystal group has been working on electrochemical aspects of surface science and on other soft materials like surfactants, polymers, and on the physics of biological systems.

The major astronomical investigations pursued at the Institute can be broadly classified into the following categories: (i) Neutron Stars and Pulsars; (ii) cosmology; (iii) Diffuse matter in space; and (iv) Radio Sky Surveys.

Another major activity of the theoretical physics group has been in studying the propagation of light waves in certain types of liquid crystals and minerals and their associated polarization phenomenon.

[11] During June 2020, QuIC was successful in developing the toolkit and ran a simulation that helps in safe quantum key distribution between devices.

It is part of the Quantum Experiments using Satellite Technology (QuEST) project supported by Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).