Doctrix Birgit Kolboske

Programme and Publication manager

The proceedings of the GMPG program are published by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht in the series Studies on the History of the Max Planck Society and as preprints on this website. 

Studies on the History of the Max Planck Society

Founded in 1948, the Max Planck Society (MPG) dedicates more than 80 institutes to basic research in the natural sciences, but also in the social sciences and humanities. As an institution for non-university research and research funding, it enjoys worldwide recognition. How has it changed since its founding? How did its scientific programs and the topics of its institutes, its staff and its working conditions change?  Who was in charge of it? This book series deals with the eventful history of the MPG in its interweaving with politics, economics and social developments. It brings together the history of science and general contemporary history in a way that sheds new light on the significance of science in the German social history of the 20th and early 21st centuries in its European and global contexts.  What was and is special about the MPG, to what extent did it reflect the international development of science, to what extent did it shape it? This series is the work of several years of teamwork based on a comprehensive evaluation of historical documents, some of which have been made accessible here for the first time.