Brief history of the Faculty

The history of the Faculty of Physics dates back to the beginning of the Poznań University: in 1919 the Faculty of Philosophy  was created, including the Section of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, which was soon transformed into the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences and recreated after the Second World War as the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry. Prominent polish physicists, Szczepan Szczeniowski, Arkadiusz Piekara, and Stanisław Kielich, considerably contributed to the development of physics in Poznań in the post-war period.    

Prof. Szczepan Szczeniowski	The split of the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry in 1977 led to the formation of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, which later in 1993 split again creating the Faculty of Physics in its present form. The last Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics was the acoustician, Rufin Makarewicz, and the first Dean of the Faculty of Physics was Wojciech Nawrocik. Later this position was held by Andrzej Dobek and Ryszard Naskręcki. . Physicists from the Faculty of Physics were also elected Rectors of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań,   namely: Franciszek Kaczmarek was the rector in the period 1984-1985 and Stefan Jurga acted as the rector in 1996-2002. The Faculty employs almost 170 academic teachers and around 80 people as administrative, technic, and auxiliary staff. Nearly 40 full professors contribute to its  considerable scientific potential. Additionally, many retired professors remain associated with the Faculty. The Faculty offers PhD studies in Physics, Astronomy, and Biophysics, and confers doctoral degree and as well as habilitation in these disciplines. The Faculty has been granted the highest scientific category A. The Faculty is composed of two Institutes – the Institute of Acoustics and the Astronomical Observatory Institute – and twenty scientific divisions, as well as laboratories, workshops and the library. At the Faculty a lot of theoretical, experimental and observational studies in Physics, Astronomy, Acoustics and Biophysics are conducted, among others, the research in the fields of Spintronics, Mesoscopic and Nanomaterial Physics, Soft Matter Physics, Computer Science and Quantum Optics, Condensed Matter Physics, Femtosecond Spectroscopy, Studies of Small Solar System Bodies, and Psychoacoustics.
Prof. Arkadiusz Piekara
Prof. Stanisław Kielich

Two professors of our Faculty were awarded the Prize of the Foundation for Polish Science (Nagroda Fundacji na rzecz Nauki Polskiej): Józef Barnaś,  in 2009 and Tomasz Goslar in 2014. Our professors contribute to the national scientific research: Roman Micnas is the Dean of the III Department of the Polish Academy of Sciences (Polska Akademia Nauk), Józef Barnaś is a corresponding member of the Polish Academy of Sciences (Polska Akademia Nauk), and Adam Patkowski is a member of the Polish Central Commission for Degrees and Titles (Centralna Komisja ds. Tytułu Naukowego i Stopni Naukowych). Futhermore, several professors of our Faculty are members of some committees  of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

For many years now, the Faculty of Physics has been offering a wide range of educational programmes. Our fields of study include Physics, Astronomy, Biophysics (Optometry and Molecular Biophysics specializations),  Acoustics (Hearing Prosthesis specialization), Medical Physics, Sound Engineering, Computer Technologies, Applications of the Internet of Things. We offer full-time and extra-mural programmes at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The Polish Accreditation Committee has held a very positive assessment of the standard of education at our Faculty. Four of the five evaluated programmes, namely Physics, Biophysics, Acoustics and Optometry, have been assessed as outstanding. The Faculty has an active Student Council and four Student Research Clubs.