The Faculty of Physics is located on the San Joaquín Campus and spans 6,977 m², encompassing the spaces where our community thrives.
Its infrastructure includes administrative, teaching, and research areas, featuring state-of-the-art physics laboratories and experimental facilities that support world-class science. It also houses high-performance computing clusters designed for complex calculations and multiprocess tasks.
Additionally, the Faculty operates the Teaching Observatory (OUC), which includes a pair of radio telescopes, and the Manuel Foster Observatory—a national heritage site located atop Cerro San Cristóbal (Parquemet).
The Faculty of Physics is led by the Dean’s Office and comprises over 50 faculty members, 40 administrative and professional staff, and approximately 600 undergraduate and graduate students.
The sundial at the center of the courtyard is one of the iconic symbols of the Faculty of Physics community.
The Professor Carlos Rivera Cruchaga Study Room is reserved exclusively for the academic activities of undergraduate students in our Faculty. It offers spaces for group work, two silent study rooms, and workstations equipped with Linux-based computers.
The Institute of Astrophysics building houses offices for faculty, administrative staff, students, and postdoctoral researchers, as well as theadministrative headquarters of the BASAL CATA Project and the Millennium Institute of Astrophysics (MAS). It also features a remote observation room that allows users to connect with observatories in northern Chile and operate as if they were on site.
In 2010, the Manuel Foster Historic Observatory was designated a National Monument in the Historic Monument category, and since 2024, it has also been part of the Chilean Museum Network.
The OUC is equipped with a 50 cm telescope donated by the European Southern Observatory (ESO), a 40 cm telescope donated by the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, and two additional telescopes acquired with funding from the Institute of Astrophysics and support from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.
The Institute of Physics building hosts offices for faculty, administrative staff, students, and postdoctoral researchers. It also also features more than 20 experimental physics laboratories.
This pioneering infrastructure in Latin America provides students—starting at the undergraduate level—with access cutting-edge technology and equipment for nano- and microfabrication of devices.