Department of Physics was established through the Decree of the Minister of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia No. 72 of 1965. At that time the Department of Physics which held a Bachelor (S1) study program was under the Faculty of Definite Sciences and Natural Sciences (FIPIA). Since 1983, with the arrangement of the organizational structure in ITS, the Department of Physics is under the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (FMIPA) which was inaugurated in 1982 with Government Regulation No. 5/1980 and No. 27/1981. In subsequent developments after almost two decades passed in the FMIPA environment, the Department of Physics has received A accreditation for the Bachelor program (S1) in 1999, and has been updated in 2012 and 2017 with A accreditation from the National Accreditation Board – Higher Education (BAN PT )

Starting in 2001, the Department of Physics has had a Masters program (S2) and has obtained B accreditation in 2006 for this program and has been updated in 2013 with A. accreditation value. To accommodate the development of Physics and its application, the Department of Physics developed 5 (five) groups areas of interest, namely Material Physics, Instrumentation, Theoretical Physics, Optoelectronics, and Earth Physics. With developments in these areas of interest, starting in the even semester of the academic year 2007-2008 a Physics Doctoral Program was opened in the Department of Physics, with a letter of approval from the Directorate General of Higher Education in 2007 and having received A accreditation in 2013.