{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2023}} {{Short description|German physicist (1941–2023)}} thumb|Kraft in 2016 '''Gerhard Kraft''' (29 October 1941 – 18 March 2023) was 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).<ref name="GSI 2023 f044">{{cite web | title=Prof. Dr. Gerhard Kraft | website=GSI | date=22 March 2023 | url=https://www.gsi.de//work/forschung/biophysik/prof-dr-gerhard-kraft | language=de | access-date=14 July 2023}}</ref> Particle therapy had already been performed in US 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.<ref name="GSI 2023 r897" /> Therapy now continues at the {{ill|Heidelberger Ionenstrahl-Therapiezentrum|de}} using the system introduced at GSI.<ref name="GSI 2023 f044" />
== Biography == Gerhard Kraft was born on 29 October 1941 in Heidelberg.<ref name="GSI 2023 r897" /> He studied Physics in Heidelberg and Cologne.<ref name="GSI 2023 r897" /> Kraft got his PhD at the University of Cologne with a study of energy loss of carbon ions in matter.<ref name="Echo Online 2023 q902">{{cite web | title=Trauer in Darmstadt um einen Pionier der Schwerionentherapie | website=Echo Online | date=6 April 2023 | url=https://www.echo-online.de/lokales/darmstadt/trauer-in-darmstadt-um-einen-pionier-der-schwerionentherapie-2450658 | language=de | access-date=14 July 2023}}</ref> After a two year fellowship at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (Berkeley, CA, US)<ref name="GSI 2023 r897" /> under the supervision of Cornelius A. Tobias, he went back to Germany with the idea of using high-energy carbon ions to cure cancer.<ref name="Durante Debus 2018 pp. 160–167">{{cite journal | last1=Durante | first1=Marco | last2=Debus | first2=Jürgen | title=Heavy Charged Particles: Does Improved Precision and Higher Biological Effectiveness Translate to Better Outcome in Patients? | journal=Seminars in Radiation Oncology | publisher=Elsevier BV | volume=28 | issue=2 | year=2018 | issn=1053-4296 | doi=10.1016/j.semradonc.2017.11.004 | pages=160–167}}</ref> Since 1981 he started his work on heavy-ion radiobiology and radiotherapy at GSI, and the treatment room was completed in 1997.<ref name="GSI 2023 r897" /> The last patient was treated in 2008.<ref name="GSI 2023 r897" /> Kraft died on 18 March 2023 in Heidelberg.<ref name="GSI 2023 r897" />
== Awards ==
Kraft received many awards over his career, some of which are listed below:
* 1993 Honorary professor at the University of Kassel<ref name="Informationsdienst Wissenschaft – Nachrichten 2000 z091">{{cite web | title=Erwin-Schrödinger-Preisträger ist auch GhK-Honorarprofessor | website=Informationsdienst Wissenschaft – Nachrichten | date=12 January 2000 | url=https://idw-online.de/mobile/de/news17038 | language=de | access-date=14 July 2023}}</ref> * 1999 Erwin Schrödinger Award, Helmholtz Association<ref name="GSI 2023 r897">{{cite web | title=Pionier der Schwerionentherapie verstorben: Trauer um Biophysiker Gerhard Kraft | website=GSI | date=24 March 2023 | url=https://www.gsi.de/start/aktuelles/detailseite/2023/03/24/gerhard-kraft | language=de | access-date=14 July 2023}}</ref><ref name="Stifterverband k966">{{cite web | title=Erwin-Schrödinger-Preis | website=Stifterverband | url=https://www.stifterverband.org/schroedinger-preis | language=de | access-date=14 July 2023}}</ref> * 2000 Otto Hahn Prize of the City of Frankfurt am Main<ref name="GSI 2023 r897" /> * 2006 Bacq & Alexander Award, European Radiation Research Society<ref name="GSI 2023 r897" /> * 2006 Ulrich Hagen Award, German Society for Radiation Research<ref name="GSI 2023 r897" /> * 2008 Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany<ref name="GSI 2023 r897" /> * 2008–2011 Helmholtz Honorary Professor<ref>{{cite journal | last=Mau | first=Jens | title=Gerhard Kraft: Der Unnachgiebige | journal=Kma – Klinik Management Aktuell | publisher=Georg Thieme Verlag KG | volume=15 | issue=6 | year=2010 | issn=1439-3514 | doi=10.1055/s-0036-1575647 | pages=70–73 | s2cid=98928374 | language=de}}</ref> * 2009 Ph.D. h.c., University of Giessen<ref name="Informationsdienst Wissenschaft - Nachrichten 2008 q382">{{cite web | title=Ehrendoktorwürde für Verdienste in der Krebsforschung an Prof. Gerhard Kraft | website=Informationsdienst Wissenschaft – Nachrichten | date=12 December 2008 | url=https://idw-online.de/de/news?id=293671 | language=de | access-date=14 July 2023}}</ref> * 2013 Honorary member of Particle Therapy Co-Operative Group (PTCOG)<ref>[https://www.ptcog.ch/archive/steering_committee_docs/ptcog52/PTCOG52_General_Assembly_Report_2013.pdf PTCOG52 General Assembly Report 2013]</ref> * 2015 Honorary member of {{ill|Deutsche Gesellschaft für medizinische Physik|de}} (DGMP)<ref name="GSI 2015 z394">{{cite web | title=Press | website=GSI | date=13 November 2015 | url=https://www.gsi.de//en/work/research/biophysics/press | access-date=14 July 2023}}</ref> * 2018–2021 Honorary President of European Radiation Research Society<ref name="ERRS Home 1959 r609">{{cite web | title=EUROPEAN RADIATION RESEARCH SOCIETY | website=ERRS Home | date=5 November 1959 | url=https://www.errs.eu/errs_history.htm | language=de | access-date=14 July 2023 | archive-date=12 January 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220112194709/https://www.errs.eu/ERRS_history.htm | url-status=dead }}</ref>
== Publications == * {{cite book | last1=Bethge | first1=K. | last2=Kraft | first2=G. | last3=Kreisler | first3=P. | last4=Walter | first4=G. | title=Medical Applications of Nuclear Physics | publisher=Springer Science & Business Media | date=27 April 2004 | isbn=978-3-540-20805-1}} * {{cite journal | last=Kraft | first=Gerhard | title=Radiotherapy with Heavy Ions: Radiobiology, Clinical Indications and Experience at GSI, Darmstadt | journal=Tumori Journal | publisher=SAGE Publications | volume=84 | issue=2 | year=1998 | issn=0300-8916 | doi=10.1177/030089169808400217 | pages=200–204| pmid=9620245 | s2cid=25579345 }} * {{cite book | last=Kraft | first=Gerhard | title=Bionik | chapter=Tumortherapie mit Ionenstrahlen | year=2005 | pages=409–421 | publisher=Springer-Verlag | publication-place=Berlin/Heidelberg | isbn=3-540-21890-4 | doi=10.1007/3-540-26948-7_24}} * {{cite journal | last1=Amaldi | first1=Ugo | last2=Kraft | first2=Gerhard | title=Recent applications of Synchrotrons in cancer therapy with Carbon Ions | journal=Europhysics News | publisher=EDP Sciences | volume=36 | issue=4 | year=2005 | issn=0531-7479 | doi=10.1051/epn:2005402 | pages=114–118| bibcode=2005ENews..36..114A | doi-access=free }} * {{cite journal | last1=Amaldi | first1=Ugo | last2=Kraft | first2=Gerhard | title=Radiotherapy with beams of carbon ions | journal=Reports on Progress in Physics | publisher=IOP Publishing | volume=68 | issue=8 | date=11 July 2005 | issn=0034-4885 | doi=10.1088/0034-4885/68/8/r04 | pages=1861–1882| bibcode=2005RPPh...68.1861A | s2cid=121346829 }} * {{cite journal | last1=Eickhoff | first1=Hartmut | last2=Haberer | first2=Thomas | last3=Kraft | first3=Gerhard | last4=Krause | first4=Udo | last5=Richter | first5=Mathias | last6=Steiner | first6=Rudolf | last7=Debus | first7=Jürgen | title=The GSI Cancer Therapy Project | journal=Strahlentherapie und Onkologie | publisher=Springer Science and Business Media LLC | volume=175 | issue=S2 | year=1999 | issn=0179-7158 | doi=10.1007/bf03038880 | pages=21–24| pmid=10394389 | s2cid=13870164 }} * {{cite journal | last1=Haberer | first1=Th. | last2=Becher | first2=W. | last3=Schardt | first3=D. | last4=Kraft | first4=G. | title=Magnetic scanning system for heavy ion therapy | journal=Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment | publisher=Elsevier BV | volume=330 | issue=1–2 | year=1993 | issn=0168-9002 | doi=10.1016/0168-9002(93)91335-k | pages=296–305| bibcode=1993NIMPA.330..296H }}
== References == {{Reflist}}
== Further reading == * {{cite web | title=Tumortherapie mit schweren Ionen | website=Internat Solling | date=18 July 2019 | url=https://www.internatsolling.de/event/prof-dr-gerhard-kraft-vortrag-zur-strahlentherapie-mit-schweren-ionen/ | language=de | ref={{sfnref | Internat Solling | 2019}} | access-date=14 July 2023}} * [https://indico.cern.ch/event/767060/contributions/3366871/attachments/1850123/3036978/Tumor_Therapy_at_GSI_.pdf Tumor Therapy @ GSI, Gerhard Kraft Biophysics Dep. GSI Darmstadt, Germany] * {{cite web | title=Heilende Strahlen | website=Frankfurter Rundschau | date=29 December 2010 | url=https://www.fr.de/frankfurt/heilende-strahlen-11463543.html | language=de | access-date=14 July 2023}}
== External links == * {{cite web | title=Particle Therapy Co-Operative Group | website=PTCOG | url=https://ptcog.ch/ | ref={{sfnref | PTCOG}} | access-date=15 July 2023}} * {{cite web | title=Biophysik | website=GSI | date=31 May 2011 | url=https://www.gsi.de//work/forschung/biophysik | language=de | ref={{sfnref | GSI | 2011}} | access-date=15 July 2023}} * {{cite web | title=Universitätsklinikum Heidelberg: Heidelberger Ionenstrahl-Therapiezentrum (HIT) | website=Universitätsklinikum Heidelberg | date=28 January 2019 | url=https://www.klinikum.uni-heidelberg.de/interdisziplinaere-zentren/heidelberger-ionenstrahl-therapiezentrum-hit | language=de | ref={{sfnref | Universitätsklinikum Heidelberg | 2019}} | access-date=15 July 2023}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kraft, Gerhard}} Category:1941 births Category:2023 deaths Category:20th-century German physicists Category:University of Cologne alumni Category:21st-century German physicists Category:Scientists from Heidelberg Category:Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany