Energy transitions
Fossil fuels are on the way out, but slowly. Their exit has massive ramifications for many sectors and is causing ripples in both politics and society.
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Nature is pleased to acknowledge the financial support of Max-Planck-Gesellschaft in producing this Outlook. The sponsor retains sole responsibility for the following message.
The Max Planck Society is Germany's most successful research organization. Since its establishment in 1948, no fewer than 18 Nobel laureates have emerged from the ranks of its scientists, putting it on a par with the best and most prestigious research institutions worldwide.
There are currently 83 Max Planck Institutes and facilities, which conduct basic research in the natural sciences, life sciences, social sciences and the humanities. The Max Planck Institutes are built up solely around the world's leading researchers. They define their own research subjects and are given the best working conditions. Max Planck Institutes focus on research fields that are particularly innovative, or are especially demanding in terms of funding or time requirements. Their research spectrum is continually evolving: new institutes are established to find answers to seminal, forward-looking scientific questions, while others are closed when, for example, their research field has been widely established at universities.
The sponsor's feature illustrates the renewal processes within the Max Planck Society that pioneer scientific developments. It describes how the possibility to establish a new research initiative to decode the entanglement of energy transformation and societal change could be explored by an interdisciplinary collaboration between the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science.
For more information, please visit the Max Planck Society (www.mpg.de/en), the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion (www.cec.mpg.de/1/home) and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/en/).
