The National Observatory of Athens is a research center operating under public law rules and procedures and is supervised by the General Secretariat for Research and Technology of the Ministry of Development and Investments.

The Center was established in 1842 offering since then its services to research, science, and society. The National Observatory of Athens with its highly-skilled human resources and important infrastructure plays today an important role in research in the fields of Astronomy, Astrophysics, Space applications, Environment, Energy and Meteorology, Seismology, and Geodynamics, at European and international level.