Govind Swarup was a pioneer in radio astronomy. In addition to research contributions in multiple areas of astronomy and astrophysics, he was a driving force behind the building of "ingenious, innovative and powerful observational facilities for front-line research in radio astronomy".
Swarup was the key scientist behind concept, design and installation of the Ooty Radio Telescope and the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope near Pune.
Swarup was the founding director of the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.
Under his leadership, a strong group in radio astrophysics was built at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research that is comparable to the best in the world.
He published over 125 research papers, edited 4 books, and held at least two patents. He contributed to the fields of solar radio emission, radio galaxies, quasars, pulsars, interplanetary scintillation, dark matter and cosmology.