Harnack Lecture

Honour lecture with top-class researchers

The Harnack Lecture is an honour lecture by the Max Planck Society in commemoration of the German science reformer Adolf von Harnack. The international networking of science was an important element of Adolf von Harnack’s excellence concept. The Harnack Lecture has been held annually since 2014 at the invitation of the three scientific Sections and the President of the Max Planck Society. Those invited are outstanding researchers from abroad whose work is particularly relevant for the development of topical research strategies of the inviting Sections.

Prof. Karin Öberg, Ph.D.

Professor of Astronomy, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
How to make a habitable planet: The astrochemical origins of planetary compositions

recording on YouTube
Havard University, Karin Öberg
19 October 2022

Prof. Daniel Ziblatt, Ph.D.

Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts (United States) and WZB Berlin Social Science Center
The rise and fall of democracy? What political science can teach us?

recording on YouTube
Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung gGmbH
Harvard University, Daniel Ziblatt
27 October 2021

Prof. Frances H. Arnold, Ph.D.

Linus Pauling Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering and Biochemistry California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, U.S.A.
INNOVATION BY EVOLUTION:
BRINGING NEW CHEMISTRY TO LIFE

California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Frances H. Arnold
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2018, Frances H. Arnold
17 February 2021

Prof. Dr. Robert Schoelkopf

Sterling Professor of Applied Physics and Physics Director of the Yale Quantum Institute
TAMING THE QUANTUM WORLD
THE PROSPECTS FOR PRACTICAL QUANTUM COMPUTING

recording on YouTube
Yale Quantum Institute, Robert Schoelkopf
Max Planck-Humboldt Research Award, Robert Schoelkopf
23 October 2019

Prof. Dr. Steven Pinker

Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology, Harvard University
ENLIGHTENMENT NOW:
THE CASE FOR REASON, SCIENCE, HUMANISM, AND PROGRESS

recording on YouTube
Harvard University, Steven Pinker
24 October 2018

Prof. Dr. Hans Clevers

Professor of Molecular Genetics, Hubrecht Institute Director Research, Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology (Utrecht)
STEM CELLS: DR JEKYLL OR MR HYDE?

recording on YouTube
Hubrecht Institute, Hans Clevers
25 October 2017

Prof. Dr. Rainer Weiss

Massachusetts Institute of Technology on behalf of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration
GRAVITATIONAL WAVE ASTROPHYSICS
THE OPENING OF A NEW FIELD

recording on YouTube
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Rainer Weiss
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2017, Rainer Weiss
19 October 2016

Prof. Dr. Alvin E. Roth

Craig and Susan McCaw Professor of Economics, Stanford University
MARKET DESIGN AND KIDNEY EXCHANGE

Stanford University, Alvin E. Roth
The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2012, Alvin E. Roth
21 October 2015

Prof. Dr. Eric R. Kandel

Director, Kavli Institute for Brain Science and Senior Investigator Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Columbia University, NY
ART AND SCIENCE IN VIENNA 1900
REOPENING OF THE HARNACK HOUSE

recording on YouTube
Kavli Institute for Brain Science, Eric R. Kandel
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2000, Eric R. Kandel
22 October 2014