Max Planck Institute for Chemistry


The Max Planck Institute for Chemistry is a non-university research institute under the auspices of the Max Planck Society in Mainz. It was created as a Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in 1911.
In 2016 research at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz aims at an integral understanding of chemical processes in the Earth system, particularly in the atmosphere and biosphere. Investigations address a wide range of interactions between air, water, soil, life and climate in the course of Earth history up to today´s human-driven epoch, the Anthropocene. The Institute consists of five scientific departments and additional research groups. The departments are independently led by their Directors.

Research

The Institute consists of five scientific departments and additional research groups.
The Institute was founded as Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry in Berlin Dahlem in 1911. The founding director was Ernst Beckmann, who also directed the Department of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry. The Department of Organic Chemistry was led by Richard Willstatter, who won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1915 for his work on plant pigments. The teamwork of Otto Hahn, Lise Meitner and Fritz Straßmann led to the discovery of nuclear fission in December 1938. Otto Hahn was Director of the Institute from 1928 to 1946. He received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1944.
During the war, in 1944, the Institute building was severely damaged as a result of air raids. Everything that hadn't been destroyed was then stored in a closed textile factory in Tailfingen, Württemberg, where the Institute continued the work it had started in Berlin for a time.
After World War II the institute moved to the campus of Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz in 1949. In 1948 the Kaiser Wilhelm Society was restructured and renamed becoming the Max Planck Society, the institute was also renamed as the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry. In order to adapt to changing scientific requirements, the institute's research activities changed several times over the years. When classic chemistry was practiced in the early years, it later focussed on Radiochemistry, Cosmochemistry, Nuclear Physics, and mass spectrometry. These days the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry focusses on an integral scientific understanding of chemical processes in the Earth System from molecular to global scales.

Nobel laureates of the institute

At the beginning of 2014 about 300 people were employed at the institute, including 77 scientists, 122 junior scientists and 11 trainees.

Max Planck Graduate School (MPGS)

The at MPI for Chemistry offers a PhD program in atmospheric chemistry and physics, environmental physics and geophysics. The program should enable the PhD students to widen their knowledge and skills beyond the research topic of the doctoral project by visiting different lectures, workshops, soft skill courses, an annual PhD Symposium and summer schools. It was established by the Max Planck Society in January 2003. The Graduate School is in close cooperation with the University of Mainz, the University of Heidelberg, University of Frankfurt.

Directors of the Institute

Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry

The institute provides two geochemical databases which give information about reference materials of geological and environmental interest and about volcanic rocks and mantle xenoliths.