The Max Planck Society is an internationally recognized research institution. Over 85 per cent of its funding comes from public funds from the Federal Government, the individual German states (Länder) and the European Union. For more than seven decades it has stood for knowledge-oriented basic research in the life sciences, natural sciences and humanities. Around 26,000 individuals currently work and conduct research at 38 locations in Germany as well as in four institutes and one branch office abroad. Of these, more than 16,100 people work in science – from student assistants and doctoral researchers to postdocs, research group leaders, guest researchers, and the directors heading the institutes. Over 60 per cent of the guest scientists come from abroad, and over 70 per cent of the young researchers (doctoral students and postdocs) come from somewhere outside of Germany. China and India were certainly the main countries of origin for foreign guest and junior researchers followed by Italy, the USA and Spain. Almost half (47 percent) of directors and Max Planck research group leaders hold a foreign passport.