Overview

The Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Crop Plant Research was founded at Tuttenhof near Vienna in 1943, incorporated into the GDR Academy of Sciences in 1948 and re-established as IPK in 1992. Over the course of the Institute’s 75 years existence, it has developed into a world-leading plant research centre. Its current population of 180 scientists and 60 PhD students come from more than 42 countries.

Chronology

Directors of the Institute

Famous people

Important foundations for plant research, which also underpin our work at the IPK Leibniz Institute, are linked to many eminent researchers. Agricultural scientists, physiologists, chemists, and breeding researchers such as Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov and Justus von Liebig all helped lay the groundwork for our research. Some of them have direct links to the Institute. At IPK, these pioneering figures are honoured through buildings bearing their names and busts on the campus. In addition, streets in the village bear their names.

As part of a citizen science project, two former IPK staff members, Gudrun Mönke and Jürgen Hofemeister, researched and compiled details of the lives and work of these individuals. The resulting texts are intended to introduce interested readers, particularly those working at the Institute today, to the lives and achievements of these individuals and encourage reflection on their work in relation to their own.

Several things stand out. Currently, only men are commemorated in this way at the Institute. Buildings such as the Genome Centre, which are not named after a specific person, already exist at IPK and could help to address this imbalance. With the benefit of hindsight, it can sometimes be difficult to recognise something that seems self-evident today as a groundbreaking concept, an innovative method, or a fundamental breakthrough in knowledge. Contextualising the time and ‘zeitgeist’ in which these individuals lived can tempt us to look down on the past from the vantage point of hindsight. Therefore, it may be worthwhile to view our actions, decisions, and omissions through the eyes of future generations and draw conclusions from that perspective.

The texts are intended to inform, stimulate and encourage reflection. We, the IPK Managing Office team, would also welcome any comments, suggestions, or additions.

Showpieces and collectibles

“Comeback” for Old Barley Varieties

This Assyrian relief symbolises the tradition of crop research

Colossus paves the way for IPK.