The first four Max Planck Partner Groups were ceremoniously inaugurated on December 17, 2004 at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. Professor Dr. Kurt Mehlhorn, Vice President of the Max Planck Society, and Professor Dr. V.S. Ramamurthy, State Secretary at the Department of Science & Technology welcomed several Directors from prestigious Indian research facilities, as well as from diverse Max Planck Institutes, including Professor Hartmut Michel, Nobel Prize Winner for Chemistry and Director of the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics who also held the festive address. In the course of the event the first six "Max Planck India Fellowships" were also awarded to Indian junior scientists.

Prof. Michel visited India from Dec 13th – 18th, 2004. On his travel agenda were the Indian Institutes for Technology (IIT’s) in Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi. Lectures and interactive sessions were organised with Directors, Faculty and various Research Institutes in Mumbai (December 13th-14th) and Chennai (December 15th).

In Delhi Prof. Michel held a lecture on “Membrane Proteins – Importance, Structures and Mechanisms” on December 16th, 2004 at the India Habitat Centre on the occasion of the first meeting of the Indo German Science Circle.

Photos of the Inauguration ceremony