The infrared and Raman spectra of 2,6-difluoropyridine (26DFPy) along with ab initio and DFT computations have been used to assign the vibrations of the molecule in its S-0 electronic ground state and to calculate its structure. The ultraviolet absorption spectrum showed the electronic transition to the S-1(pi pi*) state to be at 37 820.2 cm(-1). With the aid of ab initio computations the vibrational frequencies for this excited state were also determined. TD-B3LYP and CASSCF computations for the excited states were carried out to calculate the structures for the S-1(pi pi*) and S-2(pi pi*) excited states. The CASSCF results predict that the S-1(pi pi*) state is planar and that the S-2(pi pi*) state has a barrier to planarity of 256 cm(-1). The TD-B3LYP computations predict a barrier of 124 cm-1 for the S-1(pi pi*) state, but the experimental results support the planar structure. Hypothetical models for the ring-puckering potential energy function were calculated for both electronic excited states to show the predicted quantum states. The changes in the vibrational frequencies in the two excited states reflect the weaker pi bonding within the pyridine ring.