The Department came into existence in 1958, a year after the establishment of the University, with Professor Devendra Sharma,a renowned spectroscopes of his time, as Head of the Department. Professor Sharma laid the foundation and led the department to flourish in a multidimensional way with daunting support from colleagues. The department started undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and developed research facilities in areas like Spectroscopy, Electronics, Materials Science, X-ray Crystallography, Molecular Biophysics, Astrophysics, General Relativity and Cosmology. Over the years, the department earned high reputation in both teaching and research. The Physics Department continued to grow under the dynamic leadership of Prof. N. K. Sanyal and then the Professors R.M. Misra,R.C. Maheshwari, Maheshwar Misra, H.B. Lal, J.N. Rai, C.P.D. Dwivedi, Jai Prakash, S.L. Srivastava, J.P. Chaturvedi, D.C. Srivastava, Mihir Roychoudhury, S. N. Tiwari, Hari Saran (Dean), Shantanu Rastogi and Lallan Yadav. Professor Ravi Shankar Singh took the charge of the Head of the Department on August 19, 2022 by Prof. Lallan Yadav, who attained superannuation on Aug. 18, 2022.

Heads of the Department

Prof. Devendra Sharma      02.05.1958 - 22.07.1973 & 22.11.1976 - .4.101978
Prof. Nitish Kumar Sanyal      23.07.1973 - 21.11.1976 & 04.10.1978 - 12.11.1992
Prof. Radhey Mohan Misra     13.1.1992 - 12.04.1994 & 11.06.1994 - 31.10.1994 & 20.07.1995 - 19.01.1997
Prof. Ramesh Chandra Maheshwari 13.04.1994 - 10.06.1994 & 01.11.1994 - 19.07.1995
Prof. Maheshwar Misra       20.01.1997 - 22.01.2001
Prof. Hari Baksh Lal         23.01.2001 - 06.10.2001
Prof. Jai Narain Rai          07.10.2001 - 07.10.2001
Prof. Chandra Prakash Dhar Dwivedi 08.10.2001 - 30.12.2001
Prof. Jai Prakash           31.12.2001 - 30.06.2006
Prof. Suraj Lal Srivastava       01.07.2006 - 29.11.2007
Prof. Jai Prakash Chaturvedi      30.11.2007 - 09.03.2010
Prof. Dhruwa Chandra Srivastava   10.03.2010 - 14.12.2012
Prof. Mihir Roychoudhury       15.12.2012 - 14.12.2015
Prof Sugriva Nath Tiwari        15.12.2015 - 14.12.2018
Prof. Hari Saran (Dean)        15.12.2018 - 18.09.2019
Prof. Shantanu Rastogi         19.09.2019 - 18.12.2021
Prof. Lallan Yadav          19.12.2021 - 18.08.2022
Prof. Ravi Shankar Singh       19.08.2022 - 02.12.2024
Prof. Shantanu Rastogi        03.12.2024 - continuing

The department has a dynamic teaching programme based on NEP 2020/CBCS syllabi both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The postgraduate curriculum is divided into four semesters with six optional courses in the final year. The optional courses offered are: (a) Astrophysics,(b) Biophysics, (c) Electronics, (d) Solid State Physics, (e) Spectroscopy and Lasers and (f) X-rays. In addition, Diploma in Photography is also included in the departmental Programme.

In research the department has madesignificant and notable contributions in diverse fields such as Stellar, Solarand Galactic Astrophysics, High Energy Astrophysics, Semiconductor Devices and Microelectronics, Nano materials, Thin Film and Thick Film gas sensors, Quantum Optics and Quantum computation & communication, Photo-voltaic, Super-ionic Solids, X-ray Crystallography, Molecular Biophysics, Thermoelectric, Optical Dielectric and Magnetic Properties of Solids, Optical Spectroscopy and Quantum Fields Theory etc. More than 150 students have been awarded Ph.D. degree. The department has MoU with ARIES, Nainital and collaborative programmes with IIA, Bangaluru; IUCAA, Pune; NCRA, Pune; TIFR, Mumbai; IPR, Ahmedabad and CEERI, Pilani etc. Financial supports in the form of project from almost all the national funding agencies like DST, UGC, CSIR, BRNS, DBT, UPCST etc. have been sanctioned to the department. The department has the privilege to get sponsored under DST-FIST programme.

The department has a well trained and skilled team of non-teaching and technical staff as under:
Shri Ajay Kumar Dixit           Store Keeper
Shri Prem Chand           Sr. Lab Assistant
Shri Bhagwant Patel             "
Shri Jai Prakash              "
Shri Chandra Bhushan Tripathi        "
Shri Vijay Kumar Kannaujiya      Jr. Lab Assistant
Shri Punit Bharti            Foreman - Electronics
Shri Arvind Kumar Gautam       Glass Blower
Shri Sachchidanand Vishwakarma    Blacksmith
Shri Dayanath Upadhyay          Lab Bearer
Shri Ramesh Chand             "
Shri Ram Bharat Srivastava         "
Shri Gama                  "
Shri Surendra Yadav             "
Shri Satyapal Yadav             "
Shri Vinod Kumar               "
Shri Fanesh Tiwari            Farrash