Prince-elector Frederick III of Brandenburg founds the Prussian Academy of Sciences under the name of Kurfürstlich Brandenburgische Societät der Wissenschaften ("Electoral Brandenburg Society of Sciences") upon the advice of Gottfried Leibniz, who is appointed president.

Unlike other academies, the Prussian Academy is not directly funded out of the state treasury.

Frederick grants it the monopoly on producing and selling calendars in Brandenburg, a suggestion by Leibniz.

When, in 1701, Frederick is crowned "King in Prussia", creating the Kingdom of Prussia, the academy will be renamed Königlich Preußische Sozietät der Wissenschaften ("Royal Prussian Society of Sciences").