P. N. Lebedev Physical Institute Astro Space Center Pushchino Radio Astronomy Observatory: yesterday, today and tomorrow

The coming and development of Russian (formerly Soviet) radio astronomy is indissolubly linked with the RAS Physics Institute. From the late 1940s, the Institute conducted most of its radio astronomy research in Crimea, on a station or field trip basis, and in the late 1950s the center of gravity of research moved to the southern Moscow region where, within less than twenty years, one of the largest radio astronomy observatories in the country, and indeed the world was developed. The Observatory's unique instrumentation system is briefly reviewed in historical perspective. Key research areas and some major achievements are outlined, and finally the prospects of the Observatory as (currently) part of the FIAN Astro Space center are examined.