"For someone who believes in physics, the separation of past, present and future is just an illusion," Albert Einstein allegedly said. Therefore, even the thirtieth birthday of the Institute of Physical Engineering at FME is not what it seems: although the Institute has been operating under its current name for three decades, the history and tradition of physics at BUT is much longer. After all, what kind of technical university would it be without physics?

Barely a year has passed since the founding of the Imperial and Royal Czech Technical University in Brno and the need has already arisen to provide its students with systematic teaching of theoretical disciplines, including physics. In 1900, a competition was announced for the position of professor of general and theoretical physics. It was obtained by František Koláček, a native of nearby Austerlitz, at that time a professor at Charles University, who as a scientist became world-famous for his theoretical works in the field of optics.

František Koláček was the head of the Institute of Physics for two years before returning to Prague. He was replaced in his post by Vladimír Novák, who led the institute until 1939. And he was an extremely interesting personality. Professor Novák was a great promoter of experimental physics (interestingly, he was the first in our country to conduct an experiment on the basis of Roentgen's report on X-rays). He wrote the first Czech modern university physics textbooks and was also one of the pioneers of Czech scientific photography. He also wrote a practical handbook for photographers called "Practical Photography". In 1903, he was at the birth of the so-called university extensions – i.e. lectures for the public – in Moravia. Novák’s legacy can also be found elsewhere than in today’s BUT, as in 1911, as the rector of the Czech Technical University in Brno, he supported the establishment of the second Czech university in Brno – today's Masaryk University.

In the following years, a number of excellent academics took turns at the head of the physics departments (the First and Second Physics Institutes were gradually established). The Second World War meant a significant blow to the entire Brno University of Technology. During this time, the First Institute of Physics lost its head, Professor Josef Sahánek. He was one of the pioneers in the field of electromagnetic waves. When the German occupation came, he joined the resistance group. In December 1941, the German secret police arrested him and later he was transported to Mauthausen concentration camp at the beginning of February 1942. He died there on March 23 of the same year.

Another blow to the school was dealt by the post-war development. In 1951, part of the teaching was transferred to the Military Technical Academy (predecessor of today's University of Defence), which also took over the complete equipment of the Second Institute of Physics and part of the First Institute of Physics. The remnants of the Brno University of Technology merged under the University of Civil Engineering, where the Department of Physics was established as a successor to the previous institutes. In 1956, BUT was re-established and a year later also one department of physics, which provided teaching of physics-oriented subjects for the entire BUT.

It was not until 1961 that the department was divided into three and today's FME, FCE and FEEC thus gained their own departments of Physics. "After this division, the Department of Physics of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering employed 17 people. Part of it was located in a residential building at today’s Koliště, the remaining part first in Gorkého street, then on the premises of the Brno University of Technology on Kraví hora," writes Otakar Franěk in his book History of the Czech Technical University in Brno. In addition to teaching physics, the department was also involved in research, especially in the application of optics in engineering. In the second half of the 1980s, physicists moved with the entire faculty to the new Pod Palackého vrchem campus.

The year 1989 brought a new impulse for all universities, and it was no different in the field of physics. In 1991, a new field of study Engineering Optics was opened at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, and a year later, the field of Physical Engineering was innovated. In 1994, the field of Precision Mechanics and Optics was established and in the same year, the department was transformed into today's Institute of Physical Engineering. It expanded his scope to include nanotechnology and also to participate in the CEITEC project, thanks to which a large part of the institute's employees now work and research at both FME and CEITEC BUT.

The Institute of Physical Engineering may be "blowing out thirty candles on the cake" this year, but it is building on much more. After all, as Einstein said: time is relative...