The Institute history goes back to 1954, when the PAS Institute of Physics in Warsaw established a branch in Poznań - the Ferromagnetics and Ferroelectrics Department led by Szczepan Szczeniowski. In 1956, the previous department separated and additionally a new Dielectrics Department was established under the direction of Arkadiusz Piekara. The next step forward came in 1966, with the establishment of the Radiospectroscopy Deparment led by Jan Stankowski. Finally, the current Institute of Molecular Physics in Poznań was inaugurated in 1975, as an autonomous division of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Its first director was Jan Stankowski (1975-1985), who was succeeded in the post by Andrzej Graja (1985), Janusz Morkowski (1985-1991), Bogdan Bułka (1992-1998), Narcyz Piślewski (1998-2006), Andrzej Jezierski (2006-2014) and Bogdan Idzikowski (2014-2018). Since 2018, the post of director has been held by Prof. Dr. Zbigniew Trybuła.

At present, the Institute employs a staff of 114 members, including 66 people of research personnel (9 professors, 12 associate professors, and 45 doctors), 22 engineers, and 26 administrative and technical support employees. The Institute's research work chiefly involves fundamental investigations in condensed matter physics, with 14 research laboratories applying both experimental and theoretical methods.

Each year the Institute's staff members publish circa 110 articles in international journals and present approximately 180 papers at national and international conferences. Roughly half of those is developed in cooperation with foreign partners. The Institute's Scientific Council, which includes its own independent research employees as well as eminent scientists from various Polish research centers, possesses the right to confer doctorate (PhD) and doctor of science (DSc) degrees.

In 2002-2005, the Institute hosted the EU Centre of Excellence for Magnetic and Molecular Materials for Future Electronics (MMMFE). Its main objective was to uncover new avenues of research and to integrate the top research institutions in Europe. The Institute was also coordinating a national research network on New Materials for Magnetoelectronics (MAG-EL-MAT), whose activities are largely related to spintronics.

The Institute devotes much attention to the education of both university students and secondary school pupils. There are, presently, 19 students preparing PhD dissertations on condensed matter physics under the Institute's doctorate program. Every year, more than a dozen students from Poznań University of Technology carry out their master's theses research at the Institute, many of them subsequently going on to participate in our doctorate program. Additionally, the Institute annually hosts a "Summer with Helium" event at its branch department in Odolanów, addressed to university students and gifted secondary school students interested in physics.