The Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Informatics is one of the 17 faculties of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland.
The Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń (NCU) was founded in 1945. It is one of the largest universities in Poland, currently comprising 16 faculties (including 3 medical faculties at Collegium Medicum UMK in Bydgoszcz). It provides graduate and postgraduate courses for almost 21 500 students, offering education in over 100 fields of study and 55 postgraduate courses. The university employs 4052 staff on both Toruń and Bydgoszcz campuses, over half of whom are academic teachers. NCU alumni now number around 200 000.
The university participates in student and staff exchange programs at both international (the Erasmus+ program) and national (the MOST program) levels. It develops studies in cooperation with universities abroad and is currently collaborating with the universities in Angers (economics) and Moscow (history).
NCU has state-of-the-art research infrastructure including the National Laboratory of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics (FAMO), the Center for Quantum Optics and the Interdisciplinary Center for Modern Technologies to name but a few, as well as modern teaching facilities comprising, among others, Collegium Humanisticum and the brand new University Sports Centre. The Centre for Astronomy in Piwnice near Toruń houses a unique 32-meter radio telescope. Spitsbergen (in the Arctic Sea) is home to NCU Polar Station. The university has also organized the Polish Historical Mission at the University of Würzburg. NCU researchers can boast a number of spectacular successes which include, among others, the design and construction of an Optical Coherence Tomography instrument, an ultra-modern device for medical eye examinations.
The Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Informatics was established on September 1, 1993, when the former Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry was divided into three. In 2019 the structure of the Faculty was reorganized. It includes:
Institute of Physics,
Institute of Astronomy,
Institute of Engineering and Technology
Department of Automation and Measuring Systems,
Department of Informatics.
The Faculty employs about two hundred people, including 64 full professors and associate professors (holders of a post-doctoral degree) and 71 academics with M.Sc. or PhD degrees.
The Physical Sciences Discipline Council has the right to confer doctoral and post-doctoral degrees in physical sciences (physics and biophysics) and the Astronomy Discipline Council has the right to confer physical science doctoral and post-doctoral degrees in astronomy.
Institute of Astronomy is located in Piwnice, 12 km north of Toruń.
The Institute of Physics and the Institute of Engineering and Thechnology are located in the Aleksander Jabłoński Institute at no. 5/7 Grudziądzka Street. The building houses the Dean’s Office, the faculty library, and the National Laboratory for Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics.
