History
Overview
The Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Crop Plant Research was founded 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
| 1943 | Founded as the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Crop Plant Research in Tuttendorf (near Vienna), with Hans Stubbe as its first director. |
| 1945 | Relocated to Stecklenberg/Harz due to war exigency, and settled in Gatersleben in October of that year. |
1946
1948 | Affiliated with the University of Halle-Wittenberg, while retaining the name Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Crop Plant Research. Incorporated into the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin (DAW) as the DAW Institute for Crop Plant Research. |
| 1948-1964 | Construction of the Gatersleben campus buildings. |
| 1970 | Renamed as the DAW Central Institute for Genetics and Crop Plant Research (ZIGuK); in 1972 its affiliation was changed from DAW to the GDR Academy of Sciences (AdW). |
| 1992 | Re-constituted as the Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK). |
| 2003 | Merger with the Braunschweig Gene Bank to form the Federal Ex situ Gene Bank for Agricultural and Horticultural Crops, based at IPK. |
| 2006 | Renamed as the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research. |
| 2019 | The Leibniz Association Senate certified the Institute's excellence, in recognition of it status as one of the world's leading plant research institutes. |
| 2021 | IPK PhenoSphere (Plant Cultivation Hall) for creating controlled but field-like conditions becomes fully functional |
Directors of the Institute
| 1943 - 1969 | Prof. Dr. Drs. h. c. Hans Stubbe |
| 1969 - 1983 | Prof. Dr. Helmut Böhme |
| 1983 - 1989 | Prof. Dr. Dieter Mettin |
| 1990 - 1991 | Prof. Dr. Klaus Müntz |
| 1992 - 2007 | Prof. Dr. Ulrich Wobus |
| 2007 - 2023 | Prof. Dr. Andreas Graner |
| since 2023 | Prof. Dr. Nicolaus von Wirén |
Famous people
| 1875–1933 | Erwin Baur |
| 1864–1933 | Carl Erich Correns |
| 1803–1878 | Justus von Liebig |
| 1845–1920 | Wilhelm Friedrich Philipp Pfeffer |
| 1902–1989 | Hans Stubbe |
| 1887–1943 | Nikolai Ivanowitsch Vavilov |
| 1844–1895 | Friedrich Miescher |
| 1910–1995 | Konrad Zuse |
| 1883–1951 | Theodor Roemer |
Showpieces and collectibles
“Comeback” for Old Barley Varieties
This Assyrian relief symbolises the tradition of crop research
Colossus paves the way for IPK.