Leopoldina, appointed in 2008 as a National Academy of Sciences in Germany, is a scientific academy with a long and rich tradition. Founded in 1652 by four doctors in Schweinfurt and raised to the rank of an "Academy of the Empire" by 1687, it lived through an eventful history before it was permanently settled in Halle in 1878. As a designated academy of the natural sciences, it played a special role both in the German scientific landscape and in the structure of other scientific academies. This book deals with the development of the Leopoldina between the time of the Empire and the early DDR, with particular emphasis on its history in the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich.