In 1963, the Faculty of Computer Engineering (CE) was established at the Kharkiv Institute of Mining Machinery, Automation and Computer Technology (KHIMMACT), featuring two specialties: Applied Mathematics and Electronic Computing Machines. Concurrently, the Department of Mathematical Physics was founded. The department was conceived as a general educational unit aiming to improve the mathematical training of the CE Faculty students.
Professor Viktor Petrovych Shestopalov, a radiophysicist by education, future Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, and Director of the Institute of Radiophysics and Electronics of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, became the Head of the Department. Svitlana Vasylivna Kolosova and Vadym Anatoliiovych Dykarev, who advanced from assistants to professors, immediately joined the core staff of the department.
In the same year, 1963, the Department of Computer Engineering was created. Volodymyr Lohvynovych Rvachev became the Head of the Department. He would later become the Rector of the Kharkiv Institute of Radio Electronics (KHIRE), an Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, and a Department Head at the A. M. Pidhornyi Institute of Mechanical Engineering Problems of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine; he collaborated with the department until the end of his life.
V.L. Rvachev moved to Kharkiv from Berdiansk, where he headed the Department of Higher Mathematics at the Pedagogical Institute. His postgraduate students came to work at the department with him: Leonid Yosypovych Shkliarov, Oleksandra Hryhorivna Lytvyn, and Oleh Mykolaiovych Lytvyn.
The department trained engineers in the specialty “Mathematical and Computing Devices and Units.” In terms of research, the department engaged in the development of computer technology tools, new calculation methods, and mathematical modeling of human vision properties.
In 1964, the Department of Computer Engineering was reorganized into two departments: the Department of Mathematical Machines and the Department of Mathematical Programming and Modeling. From 1966, it became the Department of Computational Mathematics and Mathematical Physics.
In 1966, KHIMMACT was renamed the Kharkiv Institute of Radio Electronics (KHIRE). In 1969, the department admitted its first intake of students for the “Applied Mathematics” (AM) specialty. The first AM student to become a lecturer at the AM department was Ihor Volodymyrovych Naumeiko. Nina Oleksandrivna Holovko and Valentyna Semenivna Manko also joined the department staff.
In 1970, Yurii Hryhorovych Stoyan became the Head of the Department. In the future, he became a Department Head at the A. M. Pidhornyi Institute of Mechanical Engineering Problems of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and a Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine; he continues to work at the department today. In 1971, he was succeeded by Leonid Yosypovych Shkliarov, who headed the department until 1978. In 1975, the department was renamed the Department of Applied Mathematics, and Ihor Volodymyrovych Naumeiko and Oleksandr Fedorovych Melnykov joined the department as V. A. Dykarev’s postgraduate students.
From 1981 to 1985, the department was headed by Mykola Andriiovych Bondarenko, who simultaneously served as the Dean of the Faculty of Computer Engineering. Halyna Mykolaivna Kryvosheieva, Serhii Vsevolodovych Yakovliev, H.I. Onyshchenko, and others joined the department during this period.
From 1986 to September 30, 2022, the department was headed by Professor Andriy Dmytrovych Tevyashev, Doctor of Technical Sciences. Valentyn Semenovych Yesilevskyi, Iryna Hryhorivna Husarova, Liubov Yuriivna Artiukh, and Svitlana Ivanivna Kozyrenko joined the department alongside him.
Since October 1, 2022, the department has been headed by Professor Maxim Viktorovych Sidorov.
