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. Biography. 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 year fellowship 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. Awards. Gerhard Kraft received many awards  over his career, some of which are listed below: Publications. With Klaus Bethge and P. Kreisler (2004) "Medical Applications Of Nuclear Physics" Springer Verlag,