Martin Stratmann has been selected to direct the Max Planck Society, the Nature News Blog reports. The Max Planck Society oversees 80 research institutes in Germany and about a dozen centers elsewhere, and it has an annual budget of €2.0 billion (US$2.6 billion) that comes from the German federal and state budgets.
Stratmann, who has led the Interface Chemistry and Surface Engineering department at the Max Planck Institute for Iron Research, will take over his new position in June, 2014. He is to succeed Peter Gruss, a developmental biologist, who has led the society since 2002.