Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics

According to Thomson Reuters, from 1999-2009 the Max Planck Society as a whole published more papers and accumulated more citations in the fields of physics and space science than any other research organization in the world.

It effectively replaced the Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Advancement of Science, which was dissolved after World War II.

The institute is located next-door to the MPI for Extraterrestrial Physics, as well as the headquarters of the European Southern Observatory.

As of 2021, the four directors of the MPA are Selma de Mink,[2] Guinevere Kauffmann, Eiichiro Komatsu, and Volker Springel.

[3] Previous directors include Ludwig Biermann (1958 – 75), Rudolf Kippenhahn (1975 – 91), Simon White (1994 – 2019), Rashid Sunyaev (1995 – 2018), Wolfgang Hillebrandt (1997 – 2009) and Martin Asplund (2007 – 2011).