The department was founded in 1955 by Professor Moshe Jammer (a close colleague of Albert Einstein), and among the department's members were and are many leading researchers in various fields of physics, including two Israel Prize winners: Professor Moshe Jammer, who won the Israel Prize for the History of Science in 1984, and Professor Shlomo Havlin, who won the Israel Prize in Physics and Chemistry in 2018. The department has more than 30 faculty members and more than 400 undergraduate, graduate and post doctoral students.

In recent years, the department has been extremely successful in recruiting outstanding young faculty members and expanding into innovative research areas. The department has research activities in areas such as nanotechnology, quantum technology, spintronics, biophysics, quantum optics, and statistical mechanics, including its applications in various fields (networks, biological systems, molecular systems, and more). Soon, another field of research will be opened: astrophysics.

The Department offers undergraduate students a wide range of tracks and options to combine their studies with computer science, mathematics, life sciences, neuroscience, chemistry, and more. In addition, for graduate students, the department offers nanotechnology courses that provide the student with general training in leading topics in this field, including an introduction to advanced fabrication methods. The range of courses offered in the bachelor's degree is designed to provide practical tools both for students seeking academic careers and for students who see their future in the high-tech industry. Therefore, alongside advanced theoretical courses, we also offer courses that address the most common tools used in research and development in high-tech.