On September 23rd, 1669. Leopold I certified at the Jesuit Neoacademica Zagrebiensis, a three-year higher education institution, which gradually developed the studies of Philosophy, Law and Theology. At the Jesuit School philosophy was taught even earlier, and part of its first year studies were Logic, "Physics", and Metaphysics. Neither Jesuit School (until 1773), nor royal Regia Scientiarum Academica (until 1850) represented a real university. Croatian Sabor (House of Representatives) and King Franjo Josip I, introduced the Law on founding the University of Zagreb. Soon after the establishing of the University of Zagreb, Faculties of Law, Theology and Philosophy started operating. The Chairs of the Faculty of Philosophy were appointed gradually. In naturalist field the teaching started in 1896, with first lectures in mineralogy and geology, and then in botanic, physics, mathematics, chemistry and zoology and geography. A long endeavour of the Science Department of the Faculty of Philosophy to attain the status of Faculty, finally materialized in 1946, when the Faculty of Science was established.

Today the Faculty has 7 departments with 24 institutes and 5 computer centres. The Faculty of Science employs a total of 189 full professors, associate professor and assistant professors and 244 assistants, affiliate research associates and junior researchers. In the school year 2005/2006 there was 4.512 undergraduate students, studying in 19 fields of study. From the founding of graduate studies (1960) up to now, 2.302 candidates defended their doctoral thesis.

Faculty Departments are placed at 7 different locations in Zagreb. At Horvatovac are already set Department of Physics and Department of Mathematics (since 1988.), Department of Geophysics (since 1989.) and Department of Chemistry (since 2005.). At the same location is going to set also Department of Biology, Department of Geography and Department of Geology and in the future, Horvatovac is going to be campus of naturalist, where are already concentrated about 3000 students and student who have completed his course of studies.

Department of Biology The scientific work is done in four institutes: Botanical Institute with its Botanical Garden, which is not just a teaching location, it's also a beautiful and attractive place for walking and entertainment in the heart of Zagreb, place Institute for Zoology, Institute of Animal Physiology, and Institute of Molecular Biology. Department is relatively well equipped with scientific equipment which although partly obsolete, is still in its full use. Scientific research is practised by 18 professors, 8 associate professors, 8 assistant professors, 21 research assistants and a larger number of junior researches.

Department of Geology The Department of Geology is the follower of the scientific principles set in the late 19th century by Đuro Pilar. In the full reach of Croatian geological sciences. Pilar's work is characterized by its world class competitiveness. The same scientific path was followed by Mišo Kišpatić and Dragutin Gorjanović-Kramberger, well-known scientists and great university professors, who brought to their surrounding the most advanced instruments and methods, which is the today's goal of the Department, too. Kramberger's most known works are the fossil fish and especially hominids of Krapina finding site, which introduced Croatian palaeontology to the world. Today the department is equipped with modern equipment available to professors and students, and some of the lectures are held outside the laboratory as a part of students' practical training.

Department of Geography The Chair of geography was founded as a part of the faculty of Philosophy, Zagreb, in 1883 and since 1946 the Department of Geography is a part of faculty of Science as the only higher educational geographical institution in Croatia. Its task is to organize the studies for the needs of primary and secondary education, and applied research. Scientific research is done in several long-term projects, in hard conditions, since the department is not adequately equipped.

Department of Geophysics The Department educates future experts in the physical solid ground, physics of the sea, and the physics of the atmosphere. The following institutes are part of the Department: Geophysical Institute founded in 1861, the Service of Exact Time (since 1876), and Seismological Service (since 1985). Aside of five seismographs and fifteen accelographs which are used to track ground vibrations caused by earthquakes in Croatia and around the world, mareographic station in Bakar continually traces the water level of the Adriatic Sea, and an automatic meteorological station at the Geophysical Institute in Zagreb traces characteristic weather indicators. The scientific activities of Geophysics Institute also include research of physical characteristics of Earth's crust, earthquakes, movements in the Adriatic Sea, weather, climate and climate changes, and relationships between physical processes in the sea and atmosphere.

Department of Physics The department has a long tradition in teaching and with the scientific research of its employees it has also attained reputation in Europe and around the world. After moving from the building at Marulić Square to the new building on Horvatovac, the Department had its renaissance. The new equipment considerably improved the practical side of the education process. We are especially proud that the new modern computer centre and computer lab have been established. Because of its large number of workstations and its extensive open hours for students, the computer lab has a special place at the University. In 1992, the department of physics installed a new electronic microscope with the highest magnification power of any other such microscope in Croatia. This and other equipment obtained in last five years enabled new scientific discoveries in the areas of structural physics, pion absorption and nuclear decay. Studies of the Departments theoretic physicist have led to new discoveries in the process of neleptonic decay, research of cosmology of neutrino, nuclear structures, theory of classic and quantum chaos, low dimensional systems, and electron dynamics on the surfaces of conductor and isolators.

Department of Chemistry The Department has its beginnings in 1876 when Aleksandar Velskov founded the first Institute of Chemistry in Nova Ves 1, and started chemistry lectures, and when Gustav Janecek in 1883 built the first Chemistry building of the Institute of Chemistry at the Academy (today J.J. Strossmayer) Square. The departments educate future professors and chemical engineers, and in its centre possess the biggest Chemical Library in the country. The new Department building on Horvatovac is open a new space and opportunities for lecture and research in chemistry. Areas of Basic scientific research are: organic chemistry, mechanics of organic reactions, biosynthesis of proteins, nuclei acids, genes for taminopacid RNA synthesis and genetical engineering, inorganic synthesis, roentgen structural analysis of organic and organometall compounds, physical chemistry of colloids and inface solid/fluid, liptric fluid crystals, experimental thermodynamics, spectrometric and spectroscopic analysis and history of chemistry.

Department of Mathematics The Department conducts teaching and research in mathematics and computer science. The department has modern computer facilities used teaching, research and administration. there are three multi-user UNIX workstations (servers), 15 workstations, 10 UNIX terminals, 20 text base UNIX terminals, about 60 IBM PC compatible computers, and 5 Apple Macintosh Computers. There are also an adequate number of printers, CD-ROM readers, plotters and scanners. The computers are interconnected in a Local Area Network which in turn is connected to the Croatian Academic and Research network (CARNet), and to the Internet. The Department has a large collection of computer software.