Kumaun University has its parent Physics department at D.S.B. Campus, Nainital. Department of Physics at D.S.B. Campus, Nainital was originally established in 1951 under Agra University as a leading department of Thakur Dev Singh Bisht Govt. P.G. College, Nainital. Professor D. D. Pant as its first Head initiated the research work in the field of Spectroscopy. After the establishment of Kumaun University in 1973, it was recognized as a model department of the University with its excellent teaching and the research work. After getting merged with the University and with subsequent extension and development, the department earned a remarkable name and fame in teaching and research work under the able leadership of various renowned physicists like Prof. D.P. Kandelwal and Prof. H.D. Bisht (first Head of Physics Department, under Kumaun University). Soon afterwards, in 1980, research work was also initiated in the field of High Energy Physics under the dynamic leadership of the then HOD Prof. B.S. Rajput, which subsequently achieved great heights in this new area of research. This period also witnessed the initiation of research work in another important field of Astrophysics. Now, this well established department of Kumaun university is recognized nationally as well as internationally for its excellent teaching and research in the abovementioned branches of Physics. Because of its excellence in teaching and research, the department got recognition with the award of DRS-I in 1987 and subsequently DSA (I, II and III phases) under the prestigious Special Assistance Programme of University Grants Commission, New Delhi. Excellent research work in the field of Spectroscopy was also recognized by the Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India, New Delhi and included the Spectroscopy Laboratory of the department under National LASER Programme in 90’s and provided sufficient grants for the upgradation and establishment of some sophisticated LASERS in the laboratory. Apart from this the department was also recognized and provided grants by DST, New Delhi under its FIST Phase-I programme.

The department after successfully completing the DSA Phase-III, has also been awarded Centre of Advanced Study (Phase-I) under the Special Assistance Programme of UGC under with provision of a grant of ₹ 1.37 Crores for a period of five years. Since the department has been recognized under the Special Assistance Programme of the UGC, five junior research fellowships were also awarded to the department annually under RFSMS scheme of the UGC for promoting research environment in the department. An MoU was also signed between the University Physics department and ARIES, Nainital for the benefit of the students for promoting teaching and research and utilizing the expertise available in both the institutions. Moreover, many faculty members of the department have been engaged in various Collaborative programmes and research projects funded by various funding agencies in India and abroad.

The department also has well-equipped computer laboratories, very good laboratories for UG and PG students and rich library which has a collection of more than 6000 reference and text books both for PG as well as research students including many rare and excellent reference books by foreign authors.

Various national/international seminars/symposia have been organized by the department time to time where scientists of national as well as international repute have actively participated. Recently, during past few years a chain of UGC Sponsored symposia (APSLS) and workshop (CSR) have been organized under the able leadership of Prof. H.C. Chandola as Head of the Department with a grand success. Under the DSA/CAS programmes of the UGC, every year a number of reputed scientists are invited to deliver invited/guest lectures in the department which have proven to be very useful for the students as well as faculty members.

The faculty members of the department are well connected with a number of National and International Universities/Research Institutes not only in India but abroad also. Prof. H. C. Chandola, Prof. Sanjay Pant, Prof. Ramesh Chandra and Dr. Alok Durgapal are collaborating in their specific fields of High Energy Physics, Spectroscopy and Astrophysics with prestigious foreign Universities/Institutes like University of Konstanz Germany, European Nuclear Research Organisation (CERN) Geneva, International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) Italy, JINR Dubna (Russia), Institute of Physics Academia Sinica Taipaei (Taiwan), Observatoire de Paris (France), Sofia University (Bulgaria) and Institute of Physics Hafai (China), under various international collaborating programmes. In addition, the faculty members and the research scholars of the department have participated in several International/ National scientific events actively.

At the department, both PG and UG programmes are run with Semester System commencing from July every year with the intake of 25 students at PG level where the following specializations are offered to the students:

1. Advanced Electronics
2. High Energy Physics
3. Astrophysics
4. Spectroscopy

Research work is primarily carried out in the following branches of Physics:

1. High Energy Physics
2. Molecular and laser Spectroscopy
3. Astrophysics
4. Condensed Matter Physics
5. Atmospheric Physics

Major Academic Activities/Achievements of the Department during last Five Years (2015- 2020)

1. The department has been awarded Centre of Advanced Study by University Grants Commission, New Delhi under its SAP programme.
2. 103 research papers have been published in the journals of International repute in last five years.
3. The departmental library has been upgraded under UGC SAP(CAS-I).
4. Prof. H.C. Chandola has been recognized in the Worldwide List of Scientists 2021 for Alternative Theories and Critics in Physics.
5. Prof. H.C. Chandola was invited to deliver research lectures at Central University of South Bihar, Gaya (2020) and I.I.T. Madras, Chennai (2018).
6. Prof. Ramesh Chandra has been elected as the member of Royal Astronomical Society (UK) and visited various institutes in India and abroad for research purpose.
7. Two research fellow’s Dr. Sheik Darga Saheb and Mr. Yesobu Yaragunta have been awarded Post Doctoral Fellowship at NARL (ISRO), Tirupati.
8. Five research fellows have qualified for Assistant Professor of Physics at Uttarakhand Higher Education Commission.
9. Dr. Kapil Saraswat (UGC-DSK Post Doctoral Fellow), High Energy Physics Group has been awarded Post Doctoral Fellowship at Institute of Physics, Academia, Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
10. The prestigious India Today magazine reported the study conducted on climate/atmospheric studies by Prof. H.C. Chandola and associated group in collaboration with IIRS (ISRO), Dehradun.
11. Ms. Nisha Fatima, Photophysics Group has been awarded Senior Research Fellowship by CSIR, New Delhi.
12. Ms. Reetika Joshi, Senior Research Fellow, was awarded Raman-Charpek fellowship under Indo-French academic exchange programme, participated in the Heliophysics Summer School of NASA at Colorado (USA) and visited Institute of Physics, Hafai (China) for research purpose.
13. Mr. Deependra Singh Rawat, Senior Research Fellow, High Energy Physics Group was invited to participate in Association of Young Scientist and Specialists meeting at Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna (Russia) and International School on Precision Effective Field Theory at DESY Laboratory, Hamburg (Germany). He also visited The Abdus Salam International Centre of Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy to participate in the International workshop on Nonperturbative Methods in Quantum Field Theory.
14. Ms. Pooja Devi, Junior Research Fellow, participated in the 9th East Asia School and Workshop on Laboratory, Space and Astrophysical Plasma at Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan.
15. Mr. Deependra Singh Rawat, High Energy Physics Group has been invited to visit Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee under its prestigious DST-TPSC programme.
16. Dr. Devendra Bisht, Senior Research Fellow, has been awarded Post Doctoral Fellowship at Institute of Physics (Hafai), China.
17. Four Junior Research Fellow’s upgraded to Senior Research Fellow’s in past five years and One Post Doctoral Fellow under DS Kothari Fellowship programme joined the High Energy Physics Group under mentorship of Prof. H.C. Chandola.
18. The department organized two UGC sponsored symposia on Advances in Physics from Small to Large Scale and one workshop on Facilities available in the UGC-DAE Consortium for Scientific Research.
19. The department organized more than 50 research lectures of Internationally reputed Professors and Scientists under its UGC-SAP(CAS-I).
20. Ten (10) PG students have qualified NET-JRF/NET-LS/GATE/JEST I last five years. Mr. Ritesh Pant secured all India 4th rank in CSIR-UGC NET/JRF 2017. Most of the PG students performing their research work in the institutes of worldwide repute.
21. Mr. Rakshit Joshi (former PG Students) had qualified GRE and working as a Research Fellow at Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Gottingen (Germany).