The development of physics and mathematics education in Belarus began with the opening in 1932 of the physics and mathematics department of the pedagogical faculty of the Belarusian State University.
In 1933, the Physics and Mathematics Department was reorganized into the Physics and Mathematics Faculty. In 1938, the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics included 4 departments: General Physics, Theoretical Physics, X-ray Physics, Electromagnetic Oscillations.

In October 1958, the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics was divided into two independent faculties – Physics and Mathematical. The first dean of the Faculty of Physics was M.P. Halimanovich. In the 60s-70s, the Faculty of Physics experienced rapid growth. In 1976, on the basis of 4 departments of the Faculty of Physics, the Faculty of Radio Physics and Electronics was opened. A little later, the Institute of Nuclear Problems was opened, which was headed by the professor of the Department of Nuclear Physics V.G. Baryshevsky.

Today, the faculty consists of 10 departments, 9 research laboratories, the Belarusian Interuniversity Research Service Center, six student research laboratories, The Educational and Research Center for Nanomaterials and Nanotechnologies, and the Educational and Scientific Astronomical Laboratory. The educational process is provided by about 270 employees and lecturers, including 28 doctors of sciences and more than 100 candidates of sciences. There are more than 50 Academicians among the graduates of the faculty and Corresponding Members of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR and the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, 6 laureates of the Lenin Prize, more than 50 laureates of the State Prizes of the USSR, BSSR and the Republic of Belarus.