With the passing of Dr. Franz Adlkofer the world has lost an extraordinarily talented and gifted researcher and his family has lost a dear father, grandfather and husband. Franz was a gentle brilliant giant and I was honored to call him my friend. We met in Vienna almost 2 decades ago.
During our meetings in Vienna, he patiently explained to me his genuine astonishment when he discovered that (contrary to his own expectations) low levels of radio frequency radiation did indeed damage the nucleus of brain and other cells. He also shared a number of stories regarding the organized effort to discredit and dismiss his research team, and destroy careers.
The results he and his many collaborators including Wilhelm Mosgöller and Darius Leszczynski had obtained through the Reflex project were highly inconvenient to the industry, which mounted a fool – scale war – game on the science and the scientist culminating in mocking cartoons and covers of Der Spiegel – – the Time magazine of Germany. Fortunately for all of us Adlkofer and Mosgöller did not back down when attacked and they lived to see triumphs in the courts.
Professor Lawrence Lessig, who happens to be fluent in German, followed the effort to suppress and discredit this important science and wrote about it in his books and also hosted Franz and me at the Safra Center for Ethics when he was chair of that program at Harvard Law school. We all owe Franz an enormous debt of gratitude. He was courageous and determined and never gave up in the fight to see the scientific truth emerge. Essentially the work his research team produced confirmed the first observations of Henry Lai and Vijay Singh from 1994 showing that very low levels of radio frequency radiation can damage the DNA inside the cells of a number of animals. These findings have since been corroborated by the National Toxicology Program.
We at Environmental Health Trust mourn the loss of this phenomenally important, indefatigable contributor to the understanding of bioelectromagnetics.
To honor his memory, EHT is pleased to provide a copy of the chapter from my book Disconnect— the Truth about Cell Phone Radiation describing some of what he endured, entitled The Doctor Who Danced with the Devil.
May his memory forever be a blessing.
-Dr. Devra Davis
Link to download The Doctor Who Danced with the Devil.
Dr. Franz Adlkofer Lecture at Harvard in 2011 “Protection Against Radiation is in Conflict with Science”
- Reflex Study Summary
- Learn more about Dr. Franz Adlkofer at the Pandora Foundation
- Read “A Higher Regional Court in Germany Orders Professor Alexander Lerchl to Retract his Falsification Allegations Against the REFLEX Study.”
