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Max Planck Society – seeking knowledge

The Max Planck Society’s experts in basic research are among the world’s most renowned scholars and scientists.

27.03.2015

It is neither the largest nor the oldest research organisation in Germany, but it is the best known: the Max Planck Society (MPG) is “the” centre for basic research in the natural sciences, biological sciences, social sciences and the humanities outside the universities. Some 5,500 researchers at 78 Max Planck Institutes in Germany and five other centres in the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy and the USA can devote all their attention to their subject without the obligation to hold lectures.

Registered as a charitable association, the organisation plays in the Champions League of international research. Since 1948, 18 Nobel Prizes have been awarded to MPG researchers. It ranks second – and is the only European research institution – among the top ten in the global ISI Citation Index of the most frequently cited research works in 22 fields. Only ­recently, in autumn 2014, Nature Index 2014 ranked the MPG top in Europe. It should therefore come as no surprise that the MPG is considered Germany’s most attractive employer for researchers.

www.mpg.de