Timeline
- 1885 - Michigan Mining School (MMS) created
- 1886 - First Classes held in Fire Hall
- 1887 - First Physics classes held
- 1889 - Hubbell Hall under construction; school moves in
- 1890 - Hubbell Hall completed; first math and physics professor hired (Arthur E. Haynes)
- 1893 - Fred W. McNair replaces Haynes
- 1895 - James Fisher starts as instructor
- 1897 - Name changed to Michigan College of Mines (MCM)
- 1899 - McNair becomes MCM President; Fisher in charge of Math and Physics
- 1901 - Tamarack Mine experiments begin
- 1917-1918 - United States involved in WWI; McNair at NBS
- 1924 - McNair dies in train wreck
- 1927 - Name changed to Michigan College of Mining and Technology (MCMT); role expanded; new physics courses added
- 1933 - BS in General Science introduced
- 1934 - Geophysics research prospers
- 1941 - Physics Major under BS in General Science first appears
- 1944 - Fisher faces mandatory retirement
- 1945 - Math and physics departments split
- 1946 - BS in Physics, Engineering Physics, and Geophysical Engineering introduced; Sault Ste. Marie branch campus opens
- 1950's - Enrollment growth
- 1954 - MS in Physics announced; physics professor becomes director of Sault Ste. Marie branch
- 1957 - Major overhaul of curriculum as Van Pelt becomes president
- 1958 - Engineering Mechanics courses move to new EM department
- 1961 - BS in Engineering Physics renamed Applied Physics
- 1964 - Name changed to Michigan Technological University; scope broadened; Physics moves into Fisher Hall
- 1966 - Sault campus becomes Lake Superior State University (LSSU)
- 1967 - Nuclear Physics research emphasized
- 1968 - College of Sciences and Arts formed; Hubbell Hall demolished
- 1970 - Highway moved from north to south side of Fisher Hall
- 1970's - Push for research causes strife in department
- 1974 - Geophysics major moves to Geology
- 1981 - Second push for research emphasizes solid state/materials physics; "Physics of Solids" option becomes available to metallurgy PhD students
- 1986 - CEC established in present form from earlier incarnations
- 1987 - Physics PhD program approved
- 1999 - Physics research expenditures top $1 million
- 2000 - Change to semester system
- 2001 - PhD in Engineering Physics added