The Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics
We investigate information processing in the brain
The Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen is active in theoretical and experimental neuroscientific basic research. It is owned by the Max Planck Society with a large number of research institutes in Germany and abroad.
With the use of computer simulations of neural networks, we are also investigating the processes that allow us to perceive, decide, act and learn. Many of our scientific findings have laid manyfold foundations for AI research and will continue to shape this discipline in the future.
What is Cybernetics?
Early in the 20th century, researchers realized that complex systems – and most systems in nature and technology are complex – are almost invariably dynamic, constantly adjusting to disturbances to keep on track. More information.
Research
In addition to the three research departments Computational Neuroscience (Director: Peter Dayan), Body-Brain Cybernetics (Director: Ivan de Araujo), High-field Magnetic Resonance (Max Planck Fellow: Klaus Scheffler), and Sensory & Sensorimotor Systems (Max Planck Fellow: Li Zhaoping), there are several independent research groups. More information
Network
The Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics is closely connected with the Max Planck Institutes at the Tübingen and Stuttgart research campuses as well as with the neuroscientific institutes of the Max Planck Society in Germany and abroad. More information
Part of the Max Planck Campus in Tübingen
Together with the Max Planck Institute for Biology, the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems and the Friedrich Miescher Laboratory, the Institute forms the Max Planck Campus Tübingen. Various facilities on the campus are shared with the neighbouring Max Planck Institutes. These include the EU Regional Office, the central campus IT, a specialist library, lecture halls and event facilities, the Max Planck Guest House and the cafeteria. A day-care center for children is also part of the campus. More information
Heritage
The origin of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics goes back to the Cybernetics Research Group. It was founded in 1958 by Otto Hahn on the initiative of Wolfhard Weidel, Georg Melchers and Alfred Kühn and consisted of the zoologist Bernhard Hassenstein, the technical physicist Hans Wenking and the theoretical physicist Werner Reichardt. After Bernhard Hassenstein's departure, this became the nucleus of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, founded in 1968. More information