The Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG), founded in 1994 and based in Berlin, is one of over 80 research institutes within the Max Planck Society. Since its inception, the Institute has played a leading role in expanding the boundaries of the history of science through the critical examination of foundational concepts, the fostering of interdisciplinary dialogue, and the development of innovative research methodologies. Their research explores how knowledge is produced, circulated, and transformed across time, space, and cultural contexts, with a particular focus on the practices, institutions, and infrastructures that shape scientific, technological, and medical inquiry.
Specialty
Research institute offering fellowships, a joint doctoral program, rare books and manuscript library, digital databases, publications and events in history of science, technology and medicine
Collections
In addition to its printed and online resources, the MPIWG library holds collections of archival materials (approx. 10,000 items). The library's growing rare book collection (approx. 2,500 volumes) comprises books ranging from the early sixteenth to the early nineteenth century and journals, and nineteenth/twentieth-century lecture notes. A growing number of rare books is being digitized and is accessible through the Library Catalogue and DLC (Digital Libraries Connected).
Collections URL
Holding Highlights
- Autographs by Albert Einstein and his wife Elsa
- Papers and the newspaper clipping collection of anti-relativist Ernst Gehrcke
- Correspondence of the German physicist Emil Rupp
- Acta eruditorum
- Histoire de l'Académie Royale des Sciences
- Encyclopédie méthodique