METU - Department of Physics

The Department of Theoretical Physics and the Department of Physics were established as two separate units in 1960 and merged together under the latter name during the 1970-1971 academic year. Distinguished physicists Erdal İnönü and Feza Gürsey played seminal roles during the development of our department in the 1960's and initiated research programs on particle physics and gravitation. Starting with 1970's they were joined by several young scientists, Ordal Demokan, Cavit Erginsoy, Dilhan Eryurt, Hakkı Ögelman, to name a few, who have launched research programs in areas including but not limited to Plasma Physics, Solid State Physics, Astrophysics and Solar Energy. The quickly emerging scientific atmosphere of the department strongly contributed to the cultivation and growth of both nationally and internationally recognized research and education programs in our department, which, with the contribution of several generations of faculty and students, grew into a tradition of excellence in research and education. Our faculty embraces this tradition and is committed to continue to pursue cutting-edge scientific research encompassing a wide range of modern branches of physics and disseminate the know-how and the joy of scientific inquiry in physics to many new generations to come.

Today, with 32 faculty members, nearly 35 research assistants, almost 100 graduate and close to 600 undergraduate students, our department runs vibrant graduate and undergraduate programs which are oriented for students to gain a solid background in fundamentals of physics and at the same time provide them the opportunity to explore, in depth, areas of applied and theoretical physics via a large selection of elective courses.

Presently, our faculty is engaged in research in several different exciting fields, including Astrophysics, Experimental and Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics, High Energy Physics Experiment, Phenomenology & Theory, Lasers & Laser Technologies, Optoelectronics & Photonics, Mathematical Physics, Nuclear Physics, Plasma Physics, Quantum Information Theory & Technologies, Solar Energy Physics, Space Science & Technologies and strives to produce top quality research results contributing to the enhancement or discovery of new physical phenomena and innovative technologies, which will have strong international impact and support the scientific knowledge-based and technological advancement of our nation. Our faculty continues to pursue several nationally and internationally funded research projects, has strong ties with the internationally recognized research centers and organizations and in contact with numerous research groups abroad specializing in diverse research fields and directions in order to sustain and enhance the involvement of our department in the web of collaborative research around the globe.

Message from the Chair

In today's world, central importance of developments in natural sciences is being recognized around the globe more broadly than ever as they continue to provide several innovative elements and discoveries which may be critical in shaping the future technologies and impacting almost every branch of human inquiry and endeavor. As the METU Physics Department we are fully committed to the pursuit of exploring exciting novel directions in research and to the dissemination of knowledge to new generations of students of science via our undergraduate and graduate educational programs.

Our department's educational programs have a well-deserved reputation, which is recognized internationally and being, by far, the most comprehensive in scope and depth at the national level. We continue the tradition of providing a strong core program and at the same time offer large variety of elective courses spanning over several branches of modern research areas in physics, giving the students the chance to search the direction, in academics and/or in industry, to pursue after their graduation. Our students find the opportunity to learn about innovative developments in areas such as quantum computers, quantum matter and technologies, photonics and laser technologies as well as new thrilling discoveries about our universe stemming from Einstein's theories of relativity and gravitation, which are strongly tied to the developments in astrophysics and high energy physics.

Successful graduates of our B.Sc. program have strong prospects in pursuing postgraduate degrees in physics as well as in other fields such as micro- and nano-technology, artificial intelligence and machine learning programs at METU or other well-reputed universities, institutes around the globe. They also have strong prospects in landing jobs at high technology development companies operating at many technology parks of various universities' as well as private and/or state-funded defense industries. Our Master's and Ph.D. programs are oriented to produce highly qualified researchers, who could seek jobs both in academia and industry.

Third decade of the 21th century started with many challenges. We passed through a pandemic of unprecedented scale that none of us have ever witnessed before, global warming and climate change with their repercussions are seriously impacting our planet, and its inhabitants. Nevertheless, developments in natural sciences have been the key element in the progress of civilizations ever since ancient times as history tells us, if not the amazing transformations we and past few generations of humans have witnessed by the advent of quantum physics and its ensuing technologies which are spanning through almost every aspect of our lives. As the METU Physics Department, we are committed to pursue the basic desire of the humankind to know more about the structure of our universe from the scale of quarks to those of nano devices and from there all the way to the scale of the galaxies and the universe itself, and by doing so, we are eager to contribute to a paradigm of new perspectives for a sustainable future for our planet and its inhabitants.

Join us, and let's take up these challenges together.

Seçkin Kürkçüoğlu

Professor and Chair