Science and technology in Germany has a long and illustrious history, and research and development efforts form an integral part of the country's economy. Germany has been the home of some of the most prominent researchers in various scientific disciplines, notably physics, mathematics, chemistry and engineering. Before World War II, Germany had produced more Nobel laureates in scientific fields than any other nation, and was the preeminent country in the natural sciences. The German language was an important language of science from the late 19th century through the end of World War II. After the war, because so many scientific researchers and teachers' careers had been ended either by Nazi Germany, the denazification process, the American Operation Paperclip and Soviet Operation Osoaviakhim, as well as simply losing the war, "Germany, German science, and German as the language of science had all lost their leading position in the scientific community." Today, scientific research in the country is supported by industry, the network of German universities and scientific state-institutions such as the Max Planck Society and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. The raw output of scientific research from Germany consistently ranks among the world's highest. Germany was declared the most innovative country in the world in the 2020 Bloomberg Innovation Index and was ranked 8th in the WIPO Global Innovation Index in 2022. Institutions Foundations Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) Federal Ministry for Economics and Technology (BMWi) German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), promoting international exchange of scientists and students) National science libraries German National Library of Economics (ZWB) German National Library of Medicine (ZB MED) German National Library of Science and Technology (TIB) Research organizations Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres (complex systems und lage-scale research) Fraunhofer Society (applied research and mission oriented research) Leibniz Association (fundamental and applied research) Max Planck Society (fundamental research) Gesellschaft für Angewandte Mathematik und Mechanik Prize committees The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize is granted to ten scientists and academics every year. With a maximum of €2.5 million per award it is one of highest endowed research prizes in the world. The prize and the mentioned organization above is named after the German polymath and philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716), who was a contemporary and competitor of Isaac Newton (1642–1727). Scientific fields Johannes Kepler (1571–1630) was one of the originators of the so-called Scientific Revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries. He was an astronomer, physicist, mathematician