The Institute was founded in 1962 by  Order of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR dated August 21, 1962 No. 3807-r as the Institute of Cosmophysical Research and Aeronomy of the Siberian Branch of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR

The organizer and the first director of the Institute was Yu.G. Shafer.

By the Decree of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences dated January 21, 2003 No. 22, the name of Yu.G. Shafer was given to the Institute.

Based on Order No. 387of the Federal Agency for Scientific Organizations dated May 14, 2018, the Institute was reorganized in the form of joining the Yakutsk Scientific Center of the SB RAS which was on July 02, 2019  renamed into the Federal State Budgetary Institution of Science Federal Research Center “Yakutsk Scientific Center of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences»

Main research areas:

Cosmic ray astrophysics

Solar-terrestrial physics