The institute was founded by Walter Dieminger, who was head of the Luftwaffe test center at Rechlin at the Müritz from 1934 onwards. Erich Regener was cofounder. After being renamed to the "Centre for Radio Transmission" in 1943 and moving to Leobersdorf in 1944, the institute was united with the Fraunhofer institute from Freiburg at Ried in the Innkreis. After the war an Allied commission decided to move the institute to Lindau am Harz, where buildings of the Technical University of Hannover already existed. The convoy arrived on the 2nd and 3 March 1946. During 1948 the radio institute of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society was transferred from the Fraunhofer Society to the Max Planck Society and renamed "Institute for Ionosphere Research" in 1949. In 1950 the US Air Force paid for the construction of an ionospheric echolot system. The full transfer from Fraunhofer to Max Planck Society and the appointment of W. Dieminger as Director followed by the transfer of the Max Planck Institute of Stratosphere Research from Weisenau near Ravensburg to Lindau and another renaming to "Max Planck Institute for Aeronomy" completed the built up.