The Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics (ASIAA) was re-established in 1993 after approval by the Academia Sinica Council upon the recommendation of Academician C.C. Lin. The Preparatory Office was inaugurated with Prof. Frank H. Shu chairing the Advisory Panel, and with Dr. Typhoon Lee as the first director. Succeeding directors are Prof. Chi Yuan (1994-1997), Prof. Fred K.Y. Lo (1997-2002), Prof. Sun Kwok (2003-2005), and Prof. Paul T.P. Ho (2002-2003, and Sept. 2005 - present).ASIAA currently has about 120 members, including research scientists, post-doctoral fellows, engineers, and technical and administrative staff. Although the majority of staff of ASIAA is Chinese, it has members from many foreign countries, including Australia, Canada, France, India, Japan, Korea, Switzerland, U.S.A., and Vietnam.
Research topics carried out at ASIAA range from solar system studies to cosmology, with our staff making use of many of the frontier ground-based and space observing facilities. ASIAA also sponsors international workshops and conferences on a regular basis. The goal of ASIAA is to become a research institute competitive with the best in the world.