Gerhard Kraft

Gerhard Kraft (born 1941 in Heidelberg, Germany) is a German physicist, best known for introducing heavy ion cancer therapy in Europe.
He was the founder and director of the Biophysics Department at the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Darmstadt (Germany). Particle therapy had already been performed in USA and Japan using protons, carbon, and other light ions. Gerhard Kraft introduced it in Europe, with two significant innovations: raster scanning and biological treatment planning. Under his direction, 440 patients were treated from 1997 to 2008 at GSI. Therapy now continues at the HIT center in Heidelberg using the system introduced at GSI. Prof. Kraft is currently Helmholtz Professor, an honorary position awarded by the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres in Germany to scientists with outstanding reputation.

Gerhard Kraft got his Ph.D. at the University of Cologne with a study of energy loss of carbon ions in matter. After a two-years fellwoship at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (Berkeley, CA, USA) under the supervision of Cornelius A. Tobias, he went back to Germany with the idea of using high-energy carbon ions to cure cancer. Since 1981 he started his work on heavy-ion radiobiology and radiotherapy at GSI, and the treatment room was completed in 1997. The last patient was treated in 2008. Gerhard Kraft is currently supporting new heavy ion therapy centers in Marburg and Kiel.

Gerhard Kraft received many awards over his career, some of which are listed below:

• 1999 Erwin Schrödinger Award, Helmholtz Association
• 2000 Otto Hahn Award, City of Frankfurt
• 2006 Bacq & Alexander Award, European Radiation Research Society
• 2006 Ulrich Hagen Award, German Society for Radiation Research
• 2008 Federal Cross of Merit (Bundesverdienstkreuz) of the Federal Republic of Germany
• 2009 Ph.D. h.c., University of Gießen

With Klaus Bethge and P. Kreisler (2004) Medical Applications Of Nuclear Physics Springer Verlag, ISBN 978-3-540-20805-1