[1] As of 2020, the department consists of 24 chairs and institutes: Physics was one of the founding disciplines of the Polytechnische Schule München in 1868, with the establishment of the Physikalisches Cabinet, later called the Physikalisches Institut.

In 1902, the Laboratorium für Technische Physik (technical physics) was founded, spearheaded by Carl von Linde.

[2] The TUM Department of Physics is notable for its operation of research reactors on the Garching campus, the Forschungsreaktor München [de] from 1957 to 2000 and the newer Forschungsreaktor München II since 2004.

As of 2020, the main research areas the TUM Department of Physics are biophysics, nuclei, particles, astrophysics, and condensed matter.

[5] 7 laureates of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry have studied, taught or researched at TUM: 6 laureates of the Nobel Prize in Physics have studied, taught or researched at TUM: Laureates of the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize include Gerhard Abstreiter, Martin Beneke, Franz Pfeiffer and Hendrik Dietz.