Until 1999 OGS meant Osservatorio Geofisico Sperimentale. These initials have been mantained even after the recent change of name to Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale to underline that new tasks are added but tradition and experience didn´t change. OGS origins, infact, date back to the middle of XVIII century, when Her Majesty Maria Theresa von Habsburg asked to Jesuit fathers to found and manage the Scuola di Astronomia e di Navigazione, to develop and improve marine exchange, after the settling of the free port of Trieste in 1719. Since then, the Institute´s name has been changed many times: Imperial-Regia Accademia di Commercio e Nautica (1817), Osservatorio Metereologico (1841), Osservatorio Marittimo (1903), Istituto Geofisico di Trieste (1921), Istituto Talassografico di Trieste (1941, later with the adding of the seismic station of Trieste it became Osservatorio Geofisico in 1949), Osservatorio Geofisico Sperimentale di Trieste (1958), Osservatorio Geofisico Sperimentale (1989). The present name is INOGS: Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale. OGS has the task to promote, develop and coordinate, in cooperation with national and international institutions, studies and researches on the Earth and its resources. Research in geophysical and environmental fields, with special attention to development of applied methodologies for productive areas; for individuation and valuation of mineral resources and energetic sources in soil and oceans; in Sea sciences, with particular attention to interactions between the Seas and atmosphere and litosphere; for researches on seismicity, on geodynamic and hydrodynamic phenomena and their impact on environment, also for civil protection aims; to improve the acquisition, processing and filing techniques for geophysical data and for new technologies of data interpretation. OGS takes part to the professional qualification of scientific and technical staff in the above-mentioned fields; takes part to programs of cooperation and development promoted by Ministry of Foreign Affairs; provides advices, consultations and technical inquiries for government, regional and local institutions; edits publications in geophysics and oceanography for scientific, practical and teaching aims. The Ministry of Education, University and Research can support and coordinate, through OGS, the Italian partecipation to International projects and enterprises in the fields of Oceanographic research and experimental geophysics.