The Institute for Solar Physics (Swedish: Institutet för solfysik) is a Swedish research institute. It is operated as an independent institute, under the auspices of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, but is associated with Stockholm University through Stockholm Observatory.
The institute was first established as The Research Station for Astrophysics in 1951 on the island of Capri, Italy. Around 1980 the station moved to La Palma in the Canary Islands. The new station is situated within the Spanish-International Observatory on the Roque de los Muchachos. It soon became obvious that the superior astronomical climate on La Palma called for a first-class solar telescope. The 47.5-cm Swedish Vacuum Solar Telescope, SVST, was erected in 1985.
The SVST was removed from the tower on 28 August 2000 after almost 15 years of successful operations. It will get a new life at Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland, CA, US. The SVST has been replaced with the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope, which has twice as large aperture diameter.
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