Gerhard Kraft (biophysicist)

Gerhard Kraft (* 1941 in Heidelberg ) is a German biophysicist and cancer researcher.

Life

Gerhard Kraft received his doctorate from the University of Cologne in 1972 with a thesis on the deceleration of 12C * ions in silicon and tantalum . He then worked with Cornelius A. Tobias at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , a research facility of the United States Department of Energy in Berkeley , California . From 1981 to 2008 he headed the biophysics department at the GSI Helmholtz Center for Heavy Ion Research in Darmstadt , where he initiated the biophysics department as a founding director .

He is honorary professor at the University of Kassel and TU Darmstadt and holds a Helmholtz professorship in the Helmholtz Association.

Kraft's main field of activity is heavy ion therapy , a form of radiation therapy in which the tumor, unlike proton therapy, is irradiated with high-energy positive heavy ions that are accelerated in a synchrotron as part of a cancer treatment . Kraft has developed processes for basic physical and biological research through to clinical application. Over 440 patients were treated with great success. Radiation systems are currently being set up at the radiological clinic of the University Clinic in Heidelberg and at the University Clinic in Marburg based on his scientific specifications .

Erwin Schrödinger Prize of the Helmholtz Association (1999)

Otto Hahn Prize of the City of Frankfurt am Main (2000)

Bacq & Alexander Prize of the European Radiation Research Society (ERRS) (2006)

Ulrich Hagen Prize of the Society for Biological Radiation Research (2006)

Cross of Merit First Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2008)

Honorary Doctor of Natural Sciences from the University of Giessen (2008)

personal data
SURNAME	Kraft, Gerhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German biophysicist and cancer researcher
DATE OF BIRTH	1941
PLACE OF BIRTH	Heidelberg