Berlin, Germany
The Max Planck Society is Germany's leading basic-research organization, established in 1948 as the successor to the Kaiser Wilhelm Society. It operates more than 80 independent Max Planck Institutes across Germany and abroad, conducting fundamental research in the natural sciences, life sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Researchers affiliated with the Society and its predecessor have collectively earned more than 30 Nobel Prizes, and each institute is built around the world-leading scientists who lead it, with broad freedom to define their own research direction.