Book Launch: Die Max-Planck-Gesellschaft. Wissenschafts- und Zeitgeschichte 1945 – 2005

Emerging from the debris of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, the Max Planck Society carried on its successful concept of non-university basic research after the Second World War and gained worldwide recognition for its research achievements. What were the decisive milestones in setting the Max Planck Society’s course? Did the Max Planck Society play a role in political, social or economic changes in Germany? To what extent was it subject to them or did it distance itself from them? How have the Max Planck Society, its Institutes and its research changed in the face of new environmental problems, growing social mobility and internationalization?

The large-scale programme “History of the Max Planck Society” has comprehensively studied this development based on a broad range of sources and with the aid of state-of-the-art digital methods. The final volume, which has just been published, compiles the major results of the eight-year project the editors will present at the event: this included organizational, epistemic and personnel aspects, findings on decisive course settings in the development of the Max Planck Society as well as the analysis of its relationship to its predecessor organization, the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, and the handling of its Nazi burdens. The final volume also deals with subjects of social history such as employment relationships, the Harnack principle and gender equality. It not only shows the Max Planck Society in a new light, but also provides new insights into the social history of the Federal Republic of Germany and the relationship between science, society and politics in the last few decades.

Keynote speeches by Jürgen Renn, Carsten Reinhardt, Jürgen Kocka, Jaromír Balcar, Birgit Kolboske, Florian Schmaltz, Alexander von Schwerin.

Presented by: Wolfgang Schön, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance

The event will be held in German. Simultaneous translation into English will be provided.            

Admission is free.

Die Max-Planck-Gesellschaft. Wissenschafts- und Zeitgeschichte 1945–2005. Herausgegeben von Jürgen Renn, Carsten Reinhardt, Jürgen Kocka gemeinsam mit Florian Schmaltz, Birgit Kolboske, Jaromír Balcar und Alexander von Schwerin. Studien zur Geschichte der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft - Band 001. Verlag Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2024. (Open Access)