The Department of Biophysics was established in 1959, making it one of the first biophysics programs in Chinese universities following the founding of the Institute of Biophysics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (1958). The department enrolled its first two cohorts of biophysics majors (6-year program) in 1960 and 1961. In 1979, it became one of the first institutions in China to offer a master’s program in biophysics, and in 1983, it was approved as the first biophysics doctoral program among higher education institutions in China. By 1988, it was recognized as the sole key discipline in biophysics at the national university level.

The department has offered over 30 courses for both undergraduate and graduate students, including General Biophysics, Experimental Nuclear Medicine, Biomedical Electron Microscopy Methods, and Structural Biology. Many faculty members and graduates from the department have become leading figures in universities, research institutes, and administrative roles. Examples include Debing Wang, who served as President of Peking University Health Science Center and Party Secretary of Peking University; Boji Cheng, held the position of Vice President; Nanshan Zhong, elected as a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering; Kechun Lin, the founding director of the department, also served as Vice Chairman of the Chinese Biophysical Society and Executive Committee Member of the International Union of Pure and Applied Biophysics (IUPAB).

Since its founding, the department has received nearly 100 grants at the provincial and ministerial levels, with multiple research achievements earning awards. ‌Lin Kechun‌'s discovery of the helical structure of liposomes was featured on the cover of Nature (1982). Later, the research teams of ‌Yin Changcheng‌ and ‌Yun Caihong‌ published cover articles in Cell Research and Science Translational Medicine (2016). In recent years, faculty and students have published in top-tier journals, including Cell, Cell Research, Science Translational Medicine, Nature Communications, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, and Science Advances.

Moving forward, the Department of Biophysics will continue to strengthen teaching and research, promote academic collaboration, and cultivate outstanding biophysics talent to advance the field.