Department of Physics

The roots of today's Physics Department at the TUM go back to the foundation of the Polytechnische Schule München in 1868 whose name was changed to Technische Hochschule München (THM) in 1877 and finally to Technische Universität München (TUM) in 1970. Concomitant with its foundation in the year 1868 the Physikalische Institut was founded, originally called Physikalisches Cabinet. In parallel, technical physics has been a matter of particular concern since the early days and at the instigation of Carl von Linde (1842 - 1934), a major industrialist and honorary professor at the THM, the Laboratorium für Technische Physik was created in 1902. It was not until 1943 that an independent Institut für Theoretische Physik was also founded. These three institutes were finally combined and expanded into the Physik-Department in 1965, whose basic structure and organization is maintained up to today. The successful development of research institutes and disciplines depends on the far-sightedness of individuals and the history of physics at TUM is characterized by many such personalities.