UNSW Faculty of Science - History

History

The Faculty of Science was established as one of the first three faculties of the New South Wales University of Technology (later the University of New South Wales) at the university's Council meeting on 8 May 1950. Teaching in the subjects of applied chemistry and chemical engineering had, however, commenced the previous year.

The present Faculty structure represents the outcome of two major and several minor UNSW restructures since 1997, with the primary aim of operational simplification and administrative efficiency. Before 1997 science teaching and research at UNSW was spread across three Faculties: Science; Biological & Behavioural Science; and Applied Science. In 1997 the Faculty of Applied Science was dis-established and dispersed in part into a Faculty of Science and Technology and a Faculty of Life Sciences. In 2001, a second major restructure amalgamated most of the science schools resident in these two Faculties into a single new Faculty of Science. A 2009 review of research in the Faculty resulted in the closure of the School of Safety Science in 2010.

Within the School of Physics, the Centre for Quantum Computer Technology has three major research laboratories at the University of New South Wales: the Atomic Fabrication Facility (AFF), the National Magnet Laboratory (NML) and the Semiconductor Nanofabrication Facility (SNF). These all allow for nanoscale device fabrication and measurement.