The Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at Gadjah Mada University was officially established on September 19, 1955, through the Minister of Education, Teaching, and Culture’s Decree dated September 15, 1955, with the reference number 53759/Kab. At the time of its establishment, this faculty was still a combined faculty with the Faculty of Engineering, known as the Union of Exact and Natural Sciences and the Faculty of Engineering. Starting from September 1, 1956, the Faculty of Exact Sciences and Natural Sciences (FMIPA) began to separate from the Faculty of Engineering.

At the time of its inauguration as a Union Faculty, FMIPA had only one department called the Department of Exact Sciences, which had existed since 1950 as a department within the Faculty of Engineering’s Civil Engineering Department. When FMIPA became an independent faculty on September 1, 1956, new departments were established. On September 1, 1960, the Department of Natural Sciences was added, followed by the Department of Chemistry. On December 28, 1982, the name FMIPA was changed to FMIPA (Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences), and it has since had three departments: Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics.

From its establishment as a combined faculty until it separated from the Faculty of Engineering, the faculty’s offices and academic activities were held in the old Faculty of Engineering building located at Jalan Jetisharjo No. 1, Yogyakarta. Basic physics laboratory activities and workshops were conducted in the old Faculty of Medicine complex in Mangkubumen. Starting in November 1960, FIPA moved to its new building in Sekip Unit III. Lectures and faculty offices began to centralize in this building, although some activities were still held at Jetisharjo and the Mangkubumen complex. Additional buildings were gradually constructed, both north of Sekip Unit III and in the Sendowo area. In 1967, the Basic Physics Laboratory was relocated from Mangkubumen to a temporary building north of Sekip Unit III. In 1970, this laboratory was moved again and, together with the Electronics Laboratory, was placed in semi-permanent buildings in Sendowo, south of the Faculty of Biology. The former Basic Physics Laboratory building was then used for Analytical Chemistry Laboratories.