... establishing links with state and private institutions in Indonesia and the Netherlands, attracting members from both countries to work in Indonesia, delegating Indonesian scientists to international congresses, conducting study tours, establishing contacts with scientists and institutions for future cooperation, and publishing news bulletins.

The Indonesians had inherited the OSR from the Dutch, which in 1951 received an Indonesian name (Organisasi Penyelidikan Ilmu Pengetahuan Alam).This organization kept the building on the Koningsplein Zuid, now renamed Jalan Merdeka Selatan, and in November of 1951 it organized a small workshop in Bogor. After 1950 all scientific and higher-education institutes were to comply with the government's nationalization regulation, which decreed that institutions must be in compliance with Indonesian national tendencies. In 1951 the minister of education and culture established a committee charged with investigating the founding of an Indonesian council of sciences. Sarwono Prawirohardjo, a prominent obstetrician, headed the committee. By the middle of 1954, the committee had a basic outline of the future council. First, it would be a central organization dedicated to the advancement of Indonesian science, especially research, in the name of national development. The council leadership would coordinate, in theory, all national scientific matters by promoting public understanding of science, providing research grants and fellowships, publishing scientific journals, ensuring cooperation be tween institutions, coordinating research activities, conducting surveys on the status of Indonesian science, and maintaining international relations. Second, the council would advise the government on problems, projects, and activities related to science. Third, legally the council would be autonomous and would be officially recognized as such through a law signed by the president of Indonesia. Thus the council was to be run by scientists and would not be influenced by either bureaucrats or politicians. Fourth, the OSR would be disbanded (since the early 1950s it had existed in name and building only), but its infrastructure would serve as a building block for the council. By early 1955 the council was effectively in operation, although it would not be until April 1956 that Sukarno signed the Madjelis Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia (Indonesian Council for Science, MIPI) into law.

[The MIPI] had a coordinating function to promote and lead the development of science and culture; provide science-based input to the government on national development, coordinate research and collaborate with various government and private institutions, publish books and scientific journals, assist library management, provide funding support for research, and improve bilateral and multilateral relationships with various international science institutions. The MIPI planned to develop into the Indonesian Academy of Sciences.

The Academy of Sciences of Indonesia, established under the Law of the Republic of Indonesia (No.8 / 1990), as an independent institution: (i) to provide opinions, suggestions and considerations on matters relating to science and technology to the Government and to society. (ii) to encourage the development of science and its excellence through scientific conferences and policy discussion forums, publications, and national and international relations.

Bambang Hidayat was born on September 18, 1934 in Kudus, Central Java, Indonesia. He obtained his PhD from Case Institute of Technology in Cleveland, Ohio in 1965 in the field of Astrophysics, where he worked with Professors McCuskey and Blanco. Professor Hidayat became a Full Professor in 1976, Associate Professor in 1974 and Assistant Professor in 1968. In 1968, he was appointed Director of the Bosscha Observatory, a post he held for over 15 years. Dr Hidayat has more than 40 scientific papers to his credit as well as a number of Astronomy textbooks. He was the Chairman of the Indonesian-Dutch Astronomy Programme in 1982, Chairman of the Indonesian-Japan Astronomy Programme from 1980 until 1994 and the Vice-President of the International Astronomical Union from 1994-2000. He was the President of the Indonesian Academy of Sciences (2004-2008).

I [Hendra Gunawan] obtained my first degree from Department of Mathematics, Bandung Institute of Technology. My supervisor then was the late Professor Moedomo. My PhD degree was earned from School of Mathematics, the University of New South Wales in 1992. My thesis was on Maximal Functions and Harmonic Analysis and my supervisor was Professor Michael G Cowling. I am currently a professor of mathematics at Bandung Institute of Technology. I belong to the Analysis and Geometry Group at Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. My areas of interest are Fourier analysis, functional analysis, and their applications. To know my research results in these areas, see my publications and my citations in Google Scholar. In 2009, I received an Australian Alumni Award for Excellence in Education, presented by Australia Education International in Jakarta. In 2015, I was elected as a member of the Indonesian Academy of Science (AIPI). In 2016, I received a Habibie Award for Basic Sciences.