Biophotons – … no fairy tales

Updated - January 21, 2026

Biophotons, a made-up word that comes from the Greek βίος (bios = life) and φῶς (phos = light).

Alexander Gurwitsch (08.10.1874 - 27.07.1954), Russian biologist and physician, found in germinating onions that living cells have, in his opinion, an, mitogenetic Emit radiation (a very weak light). He believed that this radiation could trigger cell division.

In 1954, the Italian astronomers succeeded in Laura Colli and Ugo Facchini with the help of a large Photomultipliers (residual light amplifier) in the Single-photon counting mode weak, constant light emissions from living plants.

In 1975, the German physicist Fritz Albert Popp (11.05.1938 - 04.08.2018) was able to prove the existence of biophotons: they emit a very weak light in the range of 200 to 800 nm. His doctoral student Bernard Ruth first experimented with cucumber and potato sprouts, then also with living animal cells. He found that the intensity decreased over time. If a freshly picked leaf has a high intensity, it decreases as it withers.

Today his observation of the variable intensity levels of emitted biophotons is used industrially Quality determination fresh Chinese herbs are used.

A further area is, among other things, the Photobiomodulation as part of the Photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT), e.g. for Type 2 diabetics. Here, the receptivity of the Mitochondria (the power plants of the body's cells responsible for supplying energy) for photons whose non-ionizing electromagnetic (light) energy causes photochemical changes in cellular structures. In particular, the visible and near-infrared spectrum (NIR) is absorbed by the energy-producing mitochondria.

Also the Vitamin D synthesis, which, through the action of sunlight on skin cells, leads to a photochemical reaction that ultimately forms vitamin D3, is a photobiomodulatory process. Precisely matching the wavelength of the light with the absorbing target cell determines its efficiency.

The effect is just as well founded polarized light or the HeNe-LASERs with 632.8 nm on skin cells in relation to the acceleration of the healing process or the firmness of scar tissue, etc.

According to current knowledge, biophotons are not emitted by dead objects, but only by living cells. Likewise, it has not yet been proven that information can be transferred from dead materials (e.g. rock) to others, such as water, as is often done by Manufacturers of water filter systems in advertising brochures.