Manfred Lindner (* 22 February 1957 in Ellenfeld now Bärnau, Germany) is a German physicist and director at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, Germany.
Manfred Lindner studied physics from 1978 bis 1984 at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, Germany, where he received his PhD in 1987. Subsequently he was from 1987-1989 postdoc at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) in Chicago and from 1989–1991 at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. After that, Manfred Lindner spent 1991- 1993 with a Heisenberg-Fellowship at Heidelberg University in Heidelberg, Germany. Manfred Lindner got his Habilitation in 1992. In 1993 he became a professor for theoretical physics at the Technische Universität München where he was teaching and conducting research from 1993 until 2006. Manfred Lindner became 2006 director at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, Germany. Since 2007 he is also a professor at the faculty for physics and astronomy of Heidelberg University. He became managing director of the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in 2009.
The research of Manfred Lindner is in the field of particle and astro-particle physics. The research includes formal theoretical questions and experimental activities. The theoretcial studies concern the standard model of particle physics and its extensions. On the experimental side Manfred Lindner and his division are involved in internationally leading projects in the field of neutrino physics and dark matter search.