University Of The Witwatersrand Physics Department, The School of Physics, the largest in the country, engages in internationally competitive research within very diverse fields, some emerging and some established.
Research
Research includes theoretical and experimental high energy physics, materials physics, condensed matter physics, nuclear physics, astronomy and astrophysics, high-throughput electronics, photonics, space propulsion, and physics education.
DST-NRF Chairs
The School hosts three DST-NRF Chairs (SKA Chair in radio astronomy, SARChI Chair in fundamental physics and string theory, SARChI Chair in theoretical particle cosmology), is home to the Materials Physics Research Institute (MPRI) with significant experimental infrastructure, the Mandelstam Institute for Theoretical Physics, plays an important role in the Centre of Excellence in Strong Materials, and is the Gauteng node of the National Institute for Theoretical Physics.
Teaching
In addition, the School has an active teaching programme that reaches close to 3000 students annually and an outreach programme that includes a Planetarium.