The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (German: Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e. V.; abbreviated MPG) is a non-governmental and non-profit association of Research Institutes publicly funded by the federal and the state governments of Germany. Additionally, the Max Planck Society and its Institutes receive third party funding from public and private contributions and from the European Union. The world leading organization is named in honor of its former president, theoretical physicist Max Planck.
The 86 Institutes and Research Facilities of the Max Planck Society (as of 2020) conduct basic research in the natural sciences, life sciences, social sciences, and the arts and humanities. They have a total staff of approximately 24,000 permanent employees, including 15,000 scientists, and around 5,000 non-tenured scientists and guests. As of December 31, 2018, the proportion of female employees was 44.4 percent.
The Max Planck Society (with its 86 Max Planck Institutes) has a world-leading reputation as a science and technology research organization, with more than 33 Nobel Prizes awarded to its scientists, and is widely regarded as one of the foremost basic research organizations in the world.