Research programme on the history of the Max Planck Society
The founding of the Max Planck Society in 1948, emerging from the dissolution of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, represents the most significant rupture in the institution’s history. The course set at that time shaped the MPG’s development over the following decades, giving it the profile it has today and moving it ever further away from the KWG. Yet there are also continuities and guiding principles that have endured for more than a century, forming part of the framework within which its research has been conducted.
The research programme History of the Max Planck Society has reconstructed the period from 1948 to 2002, taking into account developments following German reunification. Since the project’s completion in 2022, the volumes documenting its findings have been published successively by the team of historians led by Prof. Dr Jürgen Renn (Max Planck Institute for the History of Science), Prof. Dr Carsten Reinhardt (Bielefeld University) and Prof. Dr Jürgen Kocka (WZB Berlin Social Science Center).
The project group, comprising 14 scholars, developed new perspectives on the relationship between the history of science and contemporary history. They approached the history of the Max Planck Society as an integral part of the cultural, political and economic history of the Federal Republic of Germany, set within a broader European and global context.
Topics
The research topics addressed by the project included governance and finance (Jaromír Balcar); equal opportunities and gender (Birgit Kolboske); the social history of the Max Planck Society and its relationship with the public (Juliane Scholz); and the internationalisation of science and international scientific relations at the Max Planck Society (Alison Kraft). The development of the life sciences (Alexander von Schwerin), neuroscience and cognitive research (Sascha Topp), and (bio)medical and clinical research (Martina Schlünder) were also analysed. Further areas of focus included the history of chemistry, physics and materials science (Thomas Steinhauser), as well as earth system and ecosystem research (Gregor Lax), the latter first established at the Max Planck Society in the 1970s.
Other topics – such as the role of the Max Planck Society in internationalisation and political diplomacy – were explored by visiting researchers. Methodologically, the project broke new ground in the field of digital humanities and engaged intensively with the development of big data concepts.
