Max Planck Society

Max Planck, for whom the society is named

The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (German: Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e. V.; abbreviated MPG) is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes founded in 1911 as the Kaiser Wilhelm Society^[1][3] and renamed 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 as well as other sources.^[2][1]

According to its primary goal, the Max Planck Society supports fundamental research in the natural, life and social sciences, the arts and humanities in its 83 (as of January 2014)^[2] Max Planck Institutes.^[1][3] The society has a total staff of approximately 17,000 permanent employees, including 5,470 scientists, plus around 4,600 non-tenured scientists and guests.^[2] Society budget for 2015 was about €1.7 billion.^[2]

The Max Planck Institutes focus on excellence in research. The Max Planck Society has a world-leading reputation as a science and technology research organization, with 33 Nobel Prizes awarded to their scientists, and is generally regarded as the foremost basic research organization in Europe and the world. In 2013, the Nature Publishing Index placed the Max Planck institutes fifth worldwide in terms of research published in Nature journals (after Harvard, MIT, Stanford and the US NIH).^[4] In terms of total research volume (unweighted by citations or impact), the Max Planck Society is only outranked by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Russian Academy of Sciences and Harvard University.^[5] The Thomson Reuters-Science Watch website placed the Max Planck Society as the second leading research organization worldwide following Harvard University, in terms of the impact of the produced research over science fields.^[6]

The Max Planck Society and its predecessor Kaiser Wilhelm Society hosted several renowned scientists in their fields, including luminaries such as Otto Hahn, Werner Heisenberg, and Albert Einstein.

History

The organization was established in 1911 as the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, or Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft (KWG), a non-governmental research organisation named for the then German emperor. The KWG was one of the world's leading research organisations; its board of directors included scientists like Walther Bothe, Peter Debye, Albert Einstein, and Fritz Haber. In 1946, Otto Hahn assumed the position of President of KWG, and in 1948, the society was renamed the Max Planck Society (MPG) after its former President (1930–37) Max Planck, who died in 1947.

The Max Planck Society has a world-leading reputation as a science and technology research organization. In 2006, the Times Higher Education Supplement rankings^[7] of non-university research institutions (based on international peer review by academics) placed the Max Planck Society as No.1 in the world for science research, and No.3 in technology research (behind AT&T Corporation and the Argonne National Laboratory in the United States).

The domain mpg.de attracted at least 1.7 million visitors annually by 2008 according to a Compete.com study.^[8]

Max Planck Research Awards

The society's logo features Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom.

Since 2004, the Max Planck Research Award is conferred annually to two internationally renowned scientists, one of whom works in Germany and one in another country.

Calls for nominations for the award are invited on an annually rotating basis in specific sub-areas of the natural sciences and engineering, the life sciences and the human and social sciences. The objective of the Max Planck Society and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in presenting this joint research award is to give added momentum to specialist fields that are either not yet established in Germany or that deserve to be expanded.^[9]

List of presidents of the KWG and the MPG

• Adolf von Harnack (1911–1930)
• Max Planck (1930–1937)
• Carl Bosch (1937–1940)
• Albert Vögler (1941–1945)
• Max Planck (16 May 1945 - 31 March 1946)
• Otto Hahn (as President of the KWG 1946 and then as Founder and President of the MPG 1948-1960)
• Adolf Butenandt (1960–1972)
• Reimar Lüst (1972–1984)
• Heinz Staab (1984–1990)
• Hans F. Zacher (1990–1996)
• Hubert Markl (1996–2002)
• Peter Gruss (2002-2014)
• Martin Stratmann (2014-current)

Organization

Entrance of the administrative headquarters of the Max Planck Society in Munich

The Max Planck Society is formally an eingetragener Verein, a registered association with the institute directors as scientific members having equal voting rights.^[10] The society has its registered seat in Berlin, while the administrative headquarters are located in Munich. In 2002 the cell biologist Peter Gruss became the MPG president; materials scientist Martin Stratmann has been President of the Max Planck Society since June 2014.^[11]

Funding is provided predominantly from federal and state sources, but also from research and licence fees and donations. One of the larger donations was the castle Schloss Ringberg near Kreuth in Bavaria, which was pledged by Luitpold Emanuel in Bayern (Duke in Bavaria). It passed to the Society after the duke died in 1973, and is now used for conferences.

Max Planck institutes and research groups

The Max Planck Society consists of over 80 research institutes.^[12] In addition, the society funds a number of Max Planck Research Groups (MPRG) and International Max Planck Research Schools (IMPRS). The purpose of establishing independent research groups at various universities is to strengthen the required networking between universities and institutes of the Max Planck Society.

The research units are located across Europe. In 2007 the Society established its first non-European centre, with an institute on the Jupiter campus of Florida Atlantic University focusing on neuroscience.^[13][14]

The Max Planck Institutes operate independently from, though in close cooperation with, the universities, and focus on innovative research which does not fit into the university structure due to their interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary nature or which require resources that cannot be met by the state universities.

Internally, Max Planck Institutes are organized into research departments headed by directors such that each MPI has several directors, a position roughly comparable to anything from full professor to department head at a university. Other core members include Junior and Senior Research Fellows.^[15]

In addition, there are several associated institutes:^[12]

Max Planck Society also has a collaborative center with Princeton University—Max Planck Princeton Research Center for Plasma Physics—located in Princeton, New Jersey, in the U.S.^[16] The latest Max Planck Research Center has been established at Harvard University in 2016 as the Max Planck Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean.

International Max Planck Research Schools

Together with the Association of Universities and other Education Institutions in Germany, the Max Planck Society established numerous International Max Planck Research Schools (IMPRS) to promote junior scientists:

• Cologne Graduate School of Ageing Research, Cologne^[17]
• International Max Planck Research School on Adapting Behavior in a Fundamentally Uncertain World (Uncertainty School), at the Max Planck Institutes for Economics, for Human Development, and/or Research on Collective Goods
• International Max Planck Research School for Analysis, Design and Optimization in Chemical and Biochemical Process Engineering, Magdeburg^[18]
• International Max Planck Research School for Astronomy and Cosmic Physics, Heidelberg at the MPI for Astronomy
• International Max Planck Research School for Astrophysics, Garching at the MPI for Astrophysics
• International Max Planck Research School for Complex Surfaces in Material Sciences, Berlin^[19]
• International Max Planck Research School for Computer Science, Saarbrücken^[20]
• International Max Planck Research School for Earth System Modeling, Hamburg^[21]
• International Max Planck Research School for Elementary Particle Physics, Munich, at the MPI for Physics^[22]
• International Max Planck Research School for Environmental, Cellular and Molecular Microbiology, Marburg at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology
• International Max Planck Research School for Evolutionary Biology, Plön at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology^[23]
• International Max Planck Research School "From Molecules to Organisms", Tübingen at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology^[24]
• International Max Planck Research School for Global Biogeochemical Cycles, Jena^[25]
• International Max Planck Research School on Gravitational Wave Astronomy, Hannover and Potsdam MPI for Gravitational Physics^[26]
• International Max Planck Research School for Heart and Lung Research, Bad Nauheim at the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research^[27]
• International Max Planck Research School for Language Sciences, Nijmegen^[28]
• International Max Planck Research School for Neurosciences, Göttingen^[29]
• International Max Planck Research School for Neural & Behavioural Sciences, Tübingen^[30]
• International Max Planck Research School for Marine Microbiology (MarMic), joint program of the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen, the University of Bremen, the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven, and the Jacobs University Bremen^[31]
• International Max Planck Research School for Maritime Affairs, Hamburg^[32]
• International Max Planck Research School for Molecular and Cellular Biology, Freiburg
• International Max Planck Research School for Molecular and Cellular Life Sciences, Munich^[33]
• International Max Planck Research School for Molecular Biology, Göttingen^[34]
• International Max Planck Research School for Molecular Cell Biology and Bioengineering, Dresden^[35]
• International Max Planck Research School Molecular Biomedicine, program combined with the 'Graduate Programm Cell Dynamics And Disease' at the University of Münster and the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine^[36]
• International Max Planck Research School on Multiscale Bio-Systems, Potsdam^[37]
• International Max Planck Research School for Organismal Biology, at the University of Konstanz and the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology^[38][39]
• International Max Planck Research School for Solar System Science^[40] at the University of Göttingen^[41] hosted by MPI for Solar System Research^[42]
• International Max Planck Research School for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Bonn, at the MPI for Radio Astronomy (formerly the International Max Planck Research School for Radio and Infrared Astronomy)^[43]
• International Max Planck Research School for the Social and Political Constitution of the Economy, Cologne^[44]
• International Max Planck Research School for Surface and Interface Engineering in Advanced Materials, Düsseldorf at Max Planck Institute for Iron Research GmbH
• International Max Planck Research School for Ultrafast Imaging and Structural Dynamics, Hamburg^[45]
• The Max Planck Centre for Attosecond Science (MPC-AS), POSTECH Pohang
• The Max Planck POSTECH Center for Complex Phase Materials, POSTECH Pohang

Former institutes

Among others:

• Max Planck Institute for Aeronomics in Katlenburg-Lindau was renamed to Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in 2004;
• Max Planck Institute for Biology in Tübingen was closed in 2005;
• Max Planck Institute for Cell Biology in Ladenburg b. Heidelberg was closed in 2003;
• Max Planck Institute for Economics in Jena was renamed to the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in 2014;
• Max Planck Institute for Ionospheric Research in Katlenburg-Lindau was renamed to Max Planck Institute for Aeronomics in 1958;
• Max Planck Institute for Metals Research, Stuttgart
• Max Planck Institute of Oceanic Biology in Wilhelmshaven was renamed to Max Planck Institute of Cell Biology in 1968 and moved to Ladenburg 1977;
• Max Planck Institute for Psychological Research in Munich merged into the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in 2004;
• Max Planck Institute for Protein and Leather Research in Regensburg moved to Munich 1957 and was united with the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in 1977;
• Max Planck Institute for Virus Research in Tübingen was renamed as Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in 1985;
• Max Planck Institute for the Study of the Scientific-Technical World in Starnberg (from 1970 until 1981 (closed)) directed by Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker and Jürgen Habermas.

Open access publishing

The Max Planck Society describes itself as "a co-founder of the international Open Access movement".^[46] Together with the European Cultural Heritage Online Project the Max Planck Society organised the Berlin Open Access Conference in October 2003 to ratify the Bethesda Statement on Open Access Publishing. At the Conference the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities was passed. The Berlin Declaration built on previous open access declarations, but widened the research field to be covered by open access to include humanities and called for new activities to support open access such as “encouraging the holders of cultural heritage” to provide open access to their resources. ^[47]

The Max Planck Society continues to support open access in Germany and mandates institutional self-archiving of research outputs on the eDoc server and publications by its researchers in open access journals within 12 months.^[48] To finance open access the Max Planck Society established the Max Planck Digital Library. The library also aims to improve the conditions for open access on behalf of all Max Planck institutes by negotiating contracts with open access publishers and developing infrastructure projects, such as the Max Planck open access repository. ^[49]

Pay for Ph.D. students

In 2008 the European General Court ruled in a case brought by a PhD student against the Max Planck Society that "a researcher preparing a doctoral thesis on the basis of a grant contract concluded with the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften eV, must be regarded as a worker within the meaning of Article 39 EC only if his activities are performed for a certain period of time under the direction of an institute forming part of that association and if, in return for those activities, he receives remuneration.".^[50]

In 2012 the Max Planck Society was at the centre of a controversy about some PhD students being given employment contracts. Of the 5,300 students who at the time wrote their PhD thesis at the 80 Max Planck Institutes 2,000 had a employment contract. The remaining 3,300 received grants of between 1,000 und 1,365 Euro.^[51] According to a 2011 statement by the Max Planck Society "As you embark on a PhD, you are still anything but a proper scientist; it’s during the process itself that you become a proper scientist... a PhD is an apprenticeship in the lab, and as such it is usually not paid like a proper job – and this is, by and large, the practice at all research institutions and universities."^[52] The allegation of loan dumping for young scientists was discussed during the passing of the 2012 "Wissenschaftsfreiheitsgesetz" (Scientific Freedom Law) in the German Parliament.^[53]

Nobel Laureates

Max-Planck-Society (since 1948)

• Stefan W. Hell, Nobel Prize, chemistry 2014
• Gerhard Ertl, Nobel Prize, chemistry 2007
• Theodor W. Hänsch, Nobel Prize, physics 2005
• Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, Nobel Prize, medicine 1995
• Paul Crutzen, Nobel Prize, chemistry 1995
• Erwin Neher, Nobel Prize, medicine 1991
• Bert Sakmann, Nobel Prize, medicine 1991
• Robert Huber, Nobel Prize, chemistry 1988
• Hartmut Michel, Nobel Prize, chemistry 1988
• Johann Deisenhofer, Nobel Prize, chemistry 1988
• Ernst Ruska, Nobel Prize, physics 1986
• Klaus von Klitzing, Nobel Prize, physics 1985
• Georges Köhler, Nobel Prize, medicine 1984
• Konrad Lorenz, Nobel Prize, medicine 1973
• Manfred Eigen, Nobel Prize, chemistry 1967
• Feodor Lynen, Nobel Prize, medicine 1964
• Karl Ziegler, Nobel Prize, chemistry 1963
• Walter Bothe, Nobel Prize, physics 1954

Kaiser-Wilhelm-Society (1914–48)

• Otto Hahn, Nobel Prize, chemistry 1944
• Adolf Butenandt, Nobel Prize, chemistry 1939
• Richard Kuhn, Nobel Prize, chemistry 1938
• Peter J. W. Debye, Nobel Prize, chemistry 1936
• Hans Spemann, Nobel Prize, medicine 1935
• Werner Heisenberg, Nobel Prize, physics 1932
• Otto Heinrich Warburg, Nobel Prize, medicine 1931
• Carl Bosch, Nobel Prize, chemistry 1931
• James Franck, Nobel Prize, physics 1925
• Otto Meyerhof, Nobel Prize, medicine 1922
• Albert Einstein, Nobel Prize, physics 1921
• Max Planck, Nobel Prize, physics 1918
• Fritz Haber, Nobel Prize, chemistry 1918
• Richard Willstätter, Nobel Prize, chemistry 1915
• Max von Laue, Nobel Prize, physics 1914

See also

• Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
• Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Scientific Community
• Harnack medal
• Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres
• Schloss Ringberg

References

Sources

• Alison Abbott: German science starts facing up to its historical amnesia, in: Nature Vol 403 (2000), S.474f. (article about the Commission for the history of the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft under National Socialism)
• Gretchen Vogel: Aufbau Ost: Max Planck's East German Experiment, in: Science Vol. 326, 6. November 2009 (about the new institutes in the eastern part of Germany)

External links

• Official website

Coordinates: 48°08′28″N 11°34′55″E / 48.141169°N 11.581836°E / 48.141169; 11.581836