Boris Rajewsky


Boris Rajewsky was a Russian-born German biophysicist, who was one of the most influential researchers on the impact of radiation on living organisms in the 20th century. He served as Rector of the Goethe University Frankfurt from 1949 to 1951.

Life and career

He was the son of a Russian noble family and grew up in the Russian Empire. He studied physics at the University of Kiev from 1912, and obtained a doctorate there in 1918. He moved to Germany in 1922 and became a German citizen in 1927. He became the assistant of Friedrich Dessauer and obtained an additional doctorate at the Goethe University in 1929. In 1934 he became Professor of Physics at the Goethe University, and in 1943 he became Pro-Rector of the university. He served as the university's Rector 1949–1951 and again as Pro-Rector 1951–1954. From 1946 he was chairman of the scientific council of the Max Planck Society, and in 1955, he became an adviser to the German Atomic Commission, a body of experts appointed by the federal government.
He was a member of the Nazi Party from 1937 to 1945. However, he later maintained that he had always been an opponent of national socialism.
He was the father of the noted cell biologist and cancer researcher Manfred F. Rajewsky, of the noted immunologist Klaus Rajewsky, and of the sociologist Xenia Julia Maria Rajewsky.

Honours