History
1960 – 1984
Founded and operated by the Universitäts-Sternwarte Göttingen (USWG), Germany.
1984
The USWG leaves Locarno and transfers its observations to Tenerife (Canary Islands). The instrumentation of Locarno is largely used for the new telescope. Agreement between the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the association AIRSOL, Associazione Istituto Ricerche Solari Locarno, to sell the institute (see articles of the association, only Italian version).
1987
FIRSOL, Fondazione Istituto Ricerche Solari Locarno, a foundation takes over the observatory.
1988 – 1992
The instrumentation is reconstructed and updated (new electronics, new grating). The technical collaboration with the Fachhochschule Wiesbaden (FHSW) allows to improve the automatization.
1993 – 1995
The renovated instrumentation allows to restart research programs.
1996
Research and collaborations with other institutes, mainly with the ETH-Zurich (Group of Prof. Stenflo).
1998
The ZIMPOL polarimeter (developed at ETH-Zurich) is operated in Locarno.
2004
The adaptive optics system developed in collaboration with SUPSI is installed at IRSOL.
2005
The Fabry-Perot system is installed at IRSOL.
2008
The ZIMPOL polarimeter is further developed by IRSOL and SUPSI.
IRSOL becomes member of the EAST association, which promotes the project of a next-generation large aperture European Solar Telescope (EST).
2009
The new polarimeter generation ZIMPOLIII is operational at IRSOL.
2012
IRSOL participates to the SOLARNET consortium.
2013
IRSOL is recognized as an infrastructure of national interest and supported by the Swiss confederation.
Organization of the first observing campaign with ZIMPOL at the GREGOR telescope in Tenerife.
2015
IRSOL is associated to Università della Svizzera italiana (USI).
2021
IRSOL is affiliated to Università della Svizzera italiana (USI).
2022
The Institute gets a new name:
Istituto ricerche solari Aldo e Cele Daccò (IRSOL)
