The Department of Physics was established in 1962 in the University Campus, Hazratbal, of the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir University, Srinagar to impart teaching and training to the students from J & K State leading to the Master’s degree in Physics. Prior to the establishment of the Department in the valley, desirous students from the state had to go outside the state to obtain their Master’s degree. Of the 25 students inducted in a batch, admissions to 50% seats were reserved for candidates representing Jammu province and Kashmir province respectively. The admission policy continued till 1967 – 68 when Jammu & Kashmir University was bifurcated to respective Jammu University and Kashmir University in 1969. At present, 65 students are admitted every year for post-graduate studies.

Vision

Milestones/Achievements
MOU signed between the University of Kashmir and Oak Ridge National Laboratory USA in 2010. The Researchers of our University can use the facilities available at Oak Ridge National Laboratory including the world’s fastest supercomputer – JAGUAR Modern computational facility put in place recently with up-gradation of laboratories Good number of students joined premier research
• MOU signed between the University of Kashmir and Oak Ridge National Laboratory USA in 2010. The Researchers of our University can use the facilities available at Oak Ridge National Laboratory including the world’s fastest supercomputer – JAGUAR
• Modern computational facility put in place recently with up-gradation of laboratories
• Good number of students joined premier research institutes in India like SINP, Kolkatta, IITB, IISc, B’lore; JNU; etc
• The Department successfully conducted a number of seminars/lecture series by an eminent scientist of India (Prof. Naresh Dadhich, IUCAA; Prof. Sanjeev Dhurender, IUCAA; Prof. Jasjeet Bagla, HRI) in diverse fields. The idea is to expose our students to the frontline areas of research in Physics
• Prof. S. Javid Ahmad elected spokesperson for Nuclear Theory Project “Nuclear Shell Model”, IIT-Roorkee, 2010. This team will be responsible to educate/advise the Nuclear Theory Community of India on Nuclear theory programmes.
• Optical Observational Astronomical Facility coming up at Gulmarg
• A good number of research papers published in prestigious Journals including Physical Review Letters (USA), Physics Letters B, Physical Review (USA), IEEE (USA), Astro-Physical Journal (USA), A and S S (UK), IEE (UK), etc
• Several Research Projects successfully completed
The Staff members and the research scholars of the department have published more than 500 research papers in the respective fields of research in various Journals.

Selected Collaborations: International

Institute of Astronomy, CambridgeUniversity, UK Physics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, PO Box 2008, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA Department of Physics, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA Joint Institute of Nuclear Astrophysics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA Physik-Department, Technische Universitat Munchen, D-85747Garching, Germany Themba Lab.

Since 1962 nearly 2500 M.Sc students have been trained in various specializations of Physics in the department. Research activities commenced for the first time in the field of theoretical Physics and experimental Solid State Electronics in 1968. Between 1968 and 2011, more than 45 Ph.D. degrees and about 50 M.Phil Degrees have been awarded in the field of Semiconductor Electronics, Theoretical Physics, Astro-Physics, High Energy Physics, Nuclear Physics, Atmospheric Physics, Microwave electronics and Solid State Physics.  Research work conducted in the Department has been published in reputed National and International Journals and these papers are cited at National and International levels. Most of the staff members have attended several conferences and symposiums at the national and international level.

Selected Collaborations: International

·   Institute of Astronomy, CambridgeUniversity, UK

·   Physics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, PO Box 2008, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA

·    Department of Physics, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA

·    Joint Institute of Nuclear Astrophysics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA

·     Physik-Department, Technische Universitat Munchen, D-85747Garching, Germany

·     Themba Lab. For Accelerator-Based Sciences, P/B 722, Somerset-West, ZA-7129 South Africa

·     Shanghai University, China

Selected Collaborations: National

·         Department of Nuclear and Atomic Physics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Centre (TIFR), Mumbai 400005, India

·         Inter University Accelerator Centre (IUAC), New Delhi

·         Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune

·         Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Calcutta

 ·     Benefits from the collaboration

High-quality research papers published in leading International Journals Ph.D/M.Phil students direct beneficiaries of the collaboration.