The Department of Physics in Lund is a department that belongs to both the Faculty of Natural Sciences and the Faculty of Engineering at

Lund University Lund University () is a Public university, public research university in Sweden and one of Northern Europe's oldest universities. The university is located in the city of Lund in the Swedish province of Scania. The university was officially foun ...

. The main goals are to expand the understanding of physics and its applications, as well as to share scientific progress with new generations. Research is conducted in most of the

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

subdivisions. The department also offers courses and a Masters's degree programs in pure physics and provides physics education for the Master of Science in Engineering programs.

History

In 1666

was founded without a faculty of science, so the physics research was conducted under the faculty of philosophy. In addition, during its first 150 years the University had no

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

ship in pure physics, so the teachings was instead given by professors in

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

. There were however a course in

experimental physics Experimental physics is the category of disciplines and sub-disciplines in the field of physics that are concerned with the observation of physical phenomena and experiments. Methods vary from discipline to discipline, from simple experiments and o ...

from the early 18th century, but that course was given by a professor in theoretical medicine;

Kilian Stobæus Kilian Stobæus (6 February 1690 – 17 February 1742) was a Swedish physician, natural scientist, and historian. He offered a young Carl Linnaeus tutoring and lodging, as well as the use of his library, which included many books about botany. ...

was appointed as the first professor in 1728. It wasn't until the early 19th century that the physics professorship split from the mathematics, but then the professorship was shared with the

astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...

. The University received its first full professor in physics in 1839. Although a pure department of

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

was not established until the late 19th century, the seeds for the department was established in 1735 when the physics teaching received its own space in the building Kungshuset. The teaching was held inside Kungshuset until the late 19th century, when the department moved to its own building which had instrumental halls, auditoriums, workshops and a library. The department moved again in 1950 to a large building complex named ''Fysicum'' due to increased space requirements, and it has been there since then.

Research

At the Department of Physics advanced research takes place divided in different divisions. The research areas are:

Atomic Physics Atomic physics is the field of physics that studies atoms as an isolated system of electrons and an atomic nucleus. Atomic physics typically refers to the study of atomic structure and the interaction between atoms. It is primarily concerned wit ...

, Combustion Physics,

Mathematical Physics Mathematical physics is the development of mathematics, mathematical methods for application to problems in physics. The ''Journal of Mathematical Physics'' defines the field as "the application of mathematics to problems in physics and the de ...

Nuclear Physics Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies atomic nuclei and their constituents and interactions, in addition to the study of other forms of nuclear matter. Nuclear physics should not be confused with atomic physics, which studies th ...

Particle Physics Particle physics or high-energy physics is the study of Elementary particle, fundamental particles and fundamental interaction, forces that constitute matter and radiation. The field also studies combinations of elementary particles up to the s ...

Solid State Physics Solid-state physics is the study of rigid matter, or solids, through methods such as solid-state chemistry, quantum mechanics, crystallography, electromagnetism, and metallurgy. It is the largest branch of condensed matter physics. Solid-state p ...

and Synchrotron Radiation Research. The department also hosts the Lund Nano Lab (LNL), part of NanoLund (formerly known as the Nanometer Structure Consortium), an interdisciplinary research environment for nanoscience and its applications in electronics, the life sciences etc. Further research centers are ''Lund Laser Centre (LLC)'', ''Consortium for Aerosol Science and Technology (CAST)'' and ''Lund University Combustion Centre (LUCC)''.

Scientists with activity at the department

Manne Siegbahn Karl Manne Georg Siegbahn (; 3 December 1886 – 26 September 1978) was a Swedish physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1924 "for his discoveries and research in the field of X-ray spectroscopy". Biography Siegbahn was born in Ör ...

was awarded the

Nobel Prize in Physics The Nobel Prize in Physics () is an annual award given by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for those who have made the most outstanding contributions to mankind in the field of physics. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the ...

for his discoveries and research in

X-ray spectroscopy X-ray spectroscopy is a general term for several Spectroscopy, spectroscopic techniques for characterization of materials by using x-ray radiation. Characteristic X-ray spectroscopy When an electron from the inner shell of an atom is excited b ...

Johannes Rydberg Johannes (Janne) Robert Rydberg (; 8 November 1854 – 28 December 1919) was a Swedish physicist mainly known for devising the Rydberg formula, in 1888, which is used to describe the wavelengths of photons (of visible light and other electro ...

became famous for formulating the

Rydberg formula In atomic physics, the Rydberg formula calculates the wavelengths of a spectral line in many chemical elements. The formula was primarily presented as a generalization of the Balmer series for all atomic electron transitions of hydrogen. It was ...

and he got a

physical constant A physical constant, sometimes fundamental physical constant or universal constant, is a physical quantity that cannot be explained by a theory and therefore must be measured experimentally. It is distinct from a mathematical constant, which has a ...

named after him. Three scientists from the departement have participated in the popular television program

Fråga Lund ''Fråga Lund'' ( English: ''"Ask Lund"''; Lund being a well-known Swedish university town) is a Swedish television format where professors and other academics sits in a panel, in front of an audience, answering scientific questions. The first sh ...

: Nina Reistad,

Bodil Jönsson Bodil Agneta Jönsson (born September 12, 1942, in Helsingborg) is a Swedish physicist and author, who is professor emeritus at the Department of Rehabilitation Technology at Lund University since 1993. Between 1999 and 2019, she has authored abo ...

and

Sten von Friesen Sten von Friesen (March 18, 1907, Uppsala; September 9, 1996) was a Swedish physicist who was most known for having participated in the Swedish hit show Fråga Lund. Biography Sten von Friesen was born in Uppsala in 1907, and his father was the S ...

. Hellmuth Hertz was a pioneer in

sonography Medical ultrasound includes diagnostic techniques (mainly imaging) using ultrasound, as well as therapeutic applications of ultrasound. In diagnosis, it is used to create an image of internal body structures such as tendons, muscles, joints ...

and was one of the first to develop the

inkjet printer Inkjet printing is a type of printer (computing), computer printing that recreates a digital image by propelling droplets of ink onto paper or plastic substrates. Inkjet printers were the most commonly used type of printer in 2008, and range f ...

, and

Anne L'Huillier Anne Geneviève L'Huillier (; born 16 August 1958) is a French physicist. She is a professor of atomic physics at Lund University in Sweden. She leads an attosecond physics group which studies the movements of electrons in real time, which is ...

was a pioneer in the research on ultra short laser pulses. All of the above physicists are or have been members of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences () is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for promoting nat ...

. Other members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences from the departement are

Bengt Edlén Bengt Edlén (2 November 1906, Gusum – 10 February 1993, Lund) was a Swedish professor of physics and astronomer who specialized in spectroscopy. He was the first who identified the unknown coronal spectral lines in the Solar corona, Coron ...

, Hermann Grimmeiss,

Cecilia Jarlskog Cecilia Jarlskog (born in 1941) is a Swedish theoretical physicist, working mainly on elementary particle physics. Jarlskog obtained her doctorate in 1970 in theoretical particle physics at the Technical University of Lund. She is known for her ...

, Heiner Linke,

Claes Fahlander Claes Fahlander (born 21 January 1948 in Gothenburg) is a Swedish physicist. As of May 2025, he is Professor Emeritus, Particle and Nuclear Physics, at Lund University. After completing studies at Gävle University College in 1967, he attended U ...

, Lars Samuelson, Torsten Gustafson,

Ingolf Lindau Evert Ingolf Lindau (born 4 October 1942) is a Swedish physicist and professor emeritus at Lund University and Stanford University and a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Biography Lindau was awarded his PhD in 1971 at Chalmers ...

Hans Ryde Hans Ryde (born 17 January 1931) is a Swedish physicist who is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. He was awarded his Doctor of Philosophy at Stockholm University in 1962. He was employed by the Research Institute of Atomic Physi ...

, Sune Svanberg, Claes-Göran Wahlström and Torsten Åkesson.

Notes

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External links

Department of Physics

NanoLund

Lund Laser Centre

Consortium for Aerosol Science and Technology
Lund University University departments in Sweden 1735 establishments in Sweden Lund University 18th-century establishments in Malmöhus County