It was established in 1918 along the lines of a proposal by the physicist Dimitri Rozhdestvensky, who was the first director, a post he held until 1932.
[2] It designs optical systems (Froptas In German) for many applications, including Russian reconnaissance satellites.
The leading role in this process was played by D. S. Rozhdestvensky, who at that time was the head of the Physics Institute of Petrograd University and at the same time chairman of the Department of Optometry of the Commission for the Study of the Natural Productive Forces of Russia (KEPS) at the Russian Academy of Sciences.
On December 15, 1918, the first organizational meeting of the Scientific Council of the GOI was held under the chairmanship of D. S. Rozhdestvensky.
The note provided an overview of the state of optical science and technology in Russia and in the leading countries of the West, it justified the need to unite optical specialists in an organization that enjoys broad state support, and formulated the main tasks of the newly created institute for the next period of its activity.