Located on the scenic campus of the University of Pune, the Department of Physics started its activity in 1952 and there is no looking back since then. Headed by Prof. Dr. S. I. Patil, the department today is an active beehive of research being carried out in a wide variety of frontier areas as well as high quality post-graduate and doctoral programs. The research programs of the Department cover a number of areas like Materials Science, Solid State Physics, Condensed Matter Physics, Nonlinear Dynamics, Scanning Tunneling Microscopy, Cloud Physics, Thin/Thick Films, Diamond Coatings, Nuclear and Accelerator Physics, Lasers, Plasma Physics, Field Electron/Ion Microscopy, Biophysics etc.

The department has flexibility in framing courses and conducting tests and examinations. It has been recognized that teaching in this department is among the best in the country. The faculty is also very active in extension programmes, in reaching out to students and the general public, through popular articles in the local press, radio, popular as well as technical books in Marathi and English, Refresher Courses and Teacher Training Programmes for high school and college teachers, demonstration lectures, summer programmes for highschool and undergraduate students, video lessons on undergraduate physics, etc.