The Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry is the nucleus of the life sciences location in Martinsried.
It has now celebrated its 50th anniversary.
As when it was founded, a spirit of optimism can be felt.
Martinsried
– The Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry (MPIB) celebrated its 50th birthday with a ceremony on Monday.
In addition to scientists, politicians also came together in the large lecture hall on the Klopferspitz.
Florian Herrmann, Head of the Bavarian State Chancellery and Minister of State for Federal Affairs and the Media, said: "50 years of the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Martinsried are 50 years of pioneering work, basic and cutting-edge research in the service of humanity." And further: "Munich is a biotech world-class region, and the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry is the gravitational core.” biological intelligence, Klinikum Großhadern,
Free State invests up to 500 million euros
Herrmann continues: "There is still an incredible amount to be researched, which is why the state government is committed to doing everything possible to further develop this location, just as it was 50 years ago." In the next ten years, the Free State will invest up to half a billion euros.
The first 30 million are already available.
The predecessor of the MPI for Biochemistry was founded in Berlin-Dahlem in 1913 under the name Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Biochemistry.
In World War II it went to Tübingen, in 1954 to Munich and from there in 1973 to Martinsried.
"It is no coincidence that the choice of location fell on Martinsried, at that time still far from the gates of Munich on a green field", says the historian Jaromir Balcar.
The plans of the LMU to build the MPI near the Großhadern Clinic were decisive.
Professor Martin Stratmann, President of the Max Planck Society (MPG), said about the founder of the MPIB, Adolf Butenandt, that he wanted to create "a super institute based on the American model": "Interdisciplinary and large enough to be methodologically broad and open to stand for new trends in science.” Stratmann continues: “This promise has been kept.
The Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry is one of the most powerful institutes in our society.
And that's saying something."
"The excitement of discovering new things"
Professor Franz-Ulrich Hartl, Managing Director of the MPIB, went into the beginnings in Martinsried.
At the opening of the institute in March 1973, the Mayor of Planegg at the time, Richard Naumann, said in his speech: "Now do some research." Hartl: "We have taken these words to heart." When it was founded, the MPIB had 500 employees, today it has 750. Among the many awards MPIB researchers have received are two Nobel Prizes and two Lasker Prizes, the highest medical science award in the United States.
Hartl, who himself researches protein development and its importance in neurodegenerative diseases, explained: “What drives us in our research: It is primarily curiosity, the stimulus to discover something new, to understand better and better how living systems work .
MPG President Stratmann spoke of a “spirit of optimism like 50 years ago.
The handling of large amounts of data has arrived massively in the life sciences, which is why the Max Planck Society will build its second large data center in Martinsried.” The 500 million euros from the Free State represent “the highest special funding in the history of the Max Planck Society Society” and opened up the opportunity to transform the campus over the next ten years “into the most modern future platform for basic research in molecular biology”.
Entry in the Golden Book of the municipality of Planegg
Planegg's Mayor Hermann Nafziger not only thanked the MPIB for "50 years of good cooperation" but also the scientists there "for their great commitment to involving the population in what you do".
With the regular open day and series of lectures, "allow us laypeople to take a look behind the scenes".
After a 30-year dry spell, Planegg has benefited significantly from biotechnology over the past 20 years.
Almost half of the trade tax revenue now comes from the industry.
Nafziger spoke of a "win-win situation" and called the extension of the U 6 from Großhadern Clinic to Martinsried the "latest example of our profitable neighborhood".
Nafziger: "It would certainly not have been extended if the life sciences campus had not existed."
As was the case 25 years ago, when the MPIB celebrated its first quarter of a century in Martinsried, the community's golden book was opened on Monday and the fountain pen pulled out.
This time, Franz-Ulrich Hartl, Martin Stratmann and Florian Herrmann signed up, while the Astris Trio played music by Maurice Ravel.