Before the University was established, there were in the area quite a number of young people who had a first degree from various institutions, and were eager to advance further in their education.

To answer this need an "institute for higher learning" was established. Teachers came to teach from the various universities and also from two local institutes: The Desert Research Institute and the Nuclear Research Center. A number of Physicists started teaching higher degrees for students in different fields of engineering and natural sciences.

Dr. Hagai Shaked (presently Emeritus Professor in the physics department) was the first teacher and gave the first lecture at this new establishment on April 14th,1964. It was a mathematics course for biology graduate students.

Among those who came to give courses in physics, were Professors Hanoch Gutfreund and Dan Amit from the Hebrew University. Professor Yakir Aharonov From Tel Aviv University took a partial position at the physics department and participated in the establishment of an advanced research program.

In 1967 a regular program for higher education was established under the supervision of the Weizman Institute and the theses advisors were a joint team from the Weizmann Institute and local faculty member.

In 1970 the Physics department as part of the "University of the Negev" (later renamed Ben Gurion University) was formally created. Professor Nathan Rosen, professor of physics at the Technion, arrived to fill temporarily the position of dean of the new faculty of science.

Professor J. Bartouv,became the first chairman of the department.

The first chairman of the teaching commitee was the late Professor Gideon Erez.On the 27th of June 1972 the department (together with the whole faculty) was accredited to bestow the Bachelor degree in physics.

This was followed in 1974 by an M.Sc. and in 1978 by a Ph.D.

In the beginning the first laboratories were housed in a hostel, called 'The house of HIAS' which the city leased to the university. Some of the first courses were given in nearby shops which had been converted into temporary classrooms.The department had also offices in the nearby Zohar Hotel. Additional buildings were built on the grounds of 'Beth HIAS', but the housing situation became very accute.

Planning for a permanent regular university campus was already started in the early days. The Beer Sheva municipality decided on the area, situated in the northern part of the city. In 1974 the physics department moved to the new campus. But there was still a shortage of space, so that the offices and laboratories were spread all over the campus. It was only in 2008 that the department moved into its own physics building.

Some members of the department are also members of the Desert Research Institute in Sdeh Boker. To improve ties between this group and the rest of the department Professor Baruch Horowitz instituted a program whereby there would be get-togethers of the groups at Sdeh Boker which would include overnight stays and social programs.

Some senior members of the department have also taught physics for many years in the School for Remedial Studies ( Mechina) . Professors Yigal Horowitz, Shaul Mordechai and Shaul Goren served as 'merakzim' of physics. The Mechina was highly successful and provided the opportunity to thousands of students to go on and study in the Faculty of Technology.