Max Planck Institutes are research institutions operated by the Max Planck Society. [1] There are over 80 institutes. [2] Most of them are located in Germany, although there are other locations in other European countries and the United States. [1] [2]
Institutes are organized into five categories according to their research area: [1] [3]
One institute can belong to several research areas. In addition, it can also belong to several more specialized research fields. [1]
As of April 2024, the following Max Planck Institutes and Research Units exist (in alphabetical order): [1]
The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes. Founded in 1911 as the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, it was renamed to the Max Planck Society in 1948 in honor of its former president, theoretical physicist Max Planck. The society is funded by the federal and state governments of Germany.
The Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Advancement of Science was a German scientific institution established in the German Empire in 1911. Its functions were taken over by the Max Planck Society. The Kaiser Wilhelm Society was an umbrella organisation for many institutes, testing stations, and research units created under its authority.
Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology of Behavior – caesar in Bonn is a non-university research institute of the Max Planck Society. It was founded on 1 January 2022. The institute had been associated with the Max Planck Society since 2006, known as the Center of Advanced European Studies and Research (caesar) and has had its focus on neurosciences since this time.
The Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry is a research institute of the Max Planck Society located in Martinsried, a suburb of Munich. The institute was founded in 1973 by the merger of three formerly independent institutes: the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, the Max Planck Institute of Protein and Leather Research, and the Max Planck Institute of Cell Chemistry.
The Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, also known as the Karl-Friedrich Bonhoeffer Institute, was a research institute of the Max Planck Society, located in Göttingen, Germany. On January 1, 2022, the institute merged with the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine in Göttingen to form the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences.
The Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion is a research institute of the Max Planck Society. It is located in the German town of Mülheim.
The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize, or Leibniz Prize, is awarded by the German Research Foundation to "exceptional scientists and academics for their outstanding achievements in the field of research". Since 1986, up to ten prizes have been awarded annually to individuals or research groups working at a research institution in Germany or at a German research institution abroad. It is considered the most important research award in Germany.
Peter Gruss is a German developmental biologist, president of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, and the former president of the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft.
The Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine was a research institute of the Max Planck Society, located in Göttingen, Germany. On January 1, 2022, the institute merged with the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen to form the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences.
The Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology was a research institute of the Max Planck Society located in Martinsried, a suburb of Munich in Germany. It existed between 1984 and 2022 and merged with the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology to the new, joint Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence in 2023.
The Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg, Germany, is a facility of the Max Planck Society for basic medical research. Since its foundation, six Nobel Prize laureates worked at the Institute: Otto Fritz Meyerhof (Physiology), Richard Kuhn (Chemistry), Walther Bothe (Physics), André Michel Lwoff, Rudolf Mößbauer (Physics), Bert Sakmann and Stefan W. Hell (Chemistry).
The Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) performs basic research in optical metrology, optical communication, new optical materials, plasmonics and nanophotonics and optical applications in biology and medicine. It is part of the Max Planck Society and was founded on January 1, 2009 in Erlangen near Nuremberg. The institute is based on the Max Planck Research Group "Optics, Information and Photonics", which was founded in 2004 at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, as a precursor. The institute currently comprises four divisions.
Werner E. Reichardt was a German physicist and biologist who helped to establish the field of biological cybernetics. He co-founded the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, and the Journal of Biological Cybernetics.
Roger Sidney Goody is an English biochemist who served as director at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Physiology in Dortmund from 1993 until 2013. Since 2013 he is Emeritus Director of the institute.
The International Max Planck Research School for Organismal Biology founded in 2009, was a structured doctoral program of the former Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Seewiesen (Pöcking) and the Department of Biology of the University of Konstanz. In October 2010, the first 30 doctoral students began their research, and until 2023, 105 have successfully graduated. The faculty consisted of over 35 leading scientists with a focus on behavioral science, ecology, evolutionary biology, physiology and neurobiology of the former Max Planck Institute for Ornithology and the Department of Biology at the Universität Konstanz. The goal of the IMPRS for Organismal Biology was to provide first-class training and education to doctoral students from around the world, in a stimulating, world-renown research environment. The school officially ended in 2023.
Leo Carl Maria De Maeyer was a Belgian physical chemist. He made an important contribution to the development of instrumental methods for the measurement of fast chemical reactions which led to the 1967 Nobel Prize in Chemistry given to Manfred Eigen. De Maeyer did his main scientific work at the Max-Planck-Institute for physical chemistry in Göttingen, Germany.
The Max Planck Institute for Ornithology was a non-university research institution under the sponsorship of the Max Planck Society. As of 1 January 2023, it merged with the Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology (MPIN) to form the new Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence (MPI-BI). The MPIO was located in Seewiesen, which belongs to the municipality of Pöcking in Upper Bavaria.
The Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence is a non-university research institute of the Max Planck Society. The institute is dedicated to basic research on topics in behavioral ecology, evolutionary biology and neuroscience. Research at the international institute focuses on how animal organisms acquire, store, apply and pass on knowledge about their environment in order to find ever-new solutions to problems and adapt to a constantly changing environment. Model organisms include Drosophila, zebrafish, mice and various bird species.
Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences is a research institute of the Max Planck Society, located in Göttingen, Germany. It was formed on January 1, 2022, through a merger of Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry and Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine.
Dirk Görlich, born October 18, 1966, in Halle (Saale) of Germany, is a German biochemist. He is now director at the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences in Göttingen.