The Department of Physics at METU was founded in 1960. The department has over 55 member of faculty and has active research groups in the fields of Astrophysics, Atomic and Molecular Physics, Mathematical Physics, General Physics, Plasma Physics, High Energy and Nuclear Physics as well as Solid State Physics. The department is also home to GUNAM, Center for Solar Energy Research and Applications.

Since 1966, METU Physics Department has been participating in CERN research projects and as of now, 12 members of faculty and a total of 16 graduate and PhD students are working on 3 different projects, namely CMS, AMS-02 and OPERA.

The department hosted CERN's traveling exhibition, "Accelerating Science" from April to July 2012, and regularly organizes the ISSCSMB summer school.