In  summer of 1955, associate Professor of Radiophysics Konstantin Kostylev on the screen just received army radar was able to observe and identify radio reflections from meteor trails. On his initiative in 1956 at Astronomical Observatory of KSU (AOE) the radar Department, and in 1957 - Problem radio astronomy laboratory (PRAL) at Department of Radiophysics is created. And finally, in 1962, on the basis of the Department of Radiophysics, PRAL and radar Department of AOE was established the Department of radio astronomy (headed by  K. V. Kostylev). The laboratory became part of the Department.

From the first days of the Department it worked  ass. Ananeva, M. P., Assoc. Loshilov Yu.A., ass. Minullin, R. G., and later to the staff of the Department joined  ass. Sidorov V. V., ass. Pupyshev Yu.A., ass. Belkovich O. I., ass. Lauterstein G. I., ass. Andrianov N. S., Assoc. Teptin G. M., Assoc. Barrows, R. A., senior lecturer. Pokrovsky G. B.

At the end of 1964 Kostylev K. V. transferred the scientific management of Pral to his student, Professor V. V. Sidorov. With the development of the Pral in 1974, the sector "Physical basis of radio wave distribution " (headed by Professor R. A. Barrows).
The rapid development of science in the sixties determined the direction and themes of the development of scientific units of the Department for many years to come. The sector of Geophysics (headed by  Dr. Fakhrutdinova). From the  laboratory, two research groups- the sporadic ionospheric layer Es study group (headed by  Assoc. R. G. Minullin), another group was headed by S. N. S. PRAL A. M. Nasyrov.
In 1982, V. V. Sidorov was elected head of the Department of Radiophysics and PRAL (together with the sector of Geophysics) became a division of this Department. FORR laboratory and R. G. Minullin group became the basis of experimental research of the Department of radio astronomy. In 1987, Konstantin Vladimirovich handed over the leadership of the Department to his student Professor Teptin Herman Mikhailovich.
On the basis of a large number of contractual works in 1995 at the Department of radio astronomy formed the Research sector of applied Radiophysics (headed by  Professor Teptin G. M.).