Adolf Giesen completed his doctorate in 1982 at the University of Bonn, Germany. Then he worked on rf-excited CO2-lasers at the German Aerospace Center in Stuttgart before moving to the University of Stuttgart. 1991 he started working on thin disk lasers. Awards include OSA’s Charles Hard Townes Medal (2017), Berthold Leibinger Preis (Stuttgart 2002), and Rank Prize (London 2004). From 2007 to 2016 he was director of the Institute of Technical Physics at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Stuttgart.

Since 1975 Dr. Giesen developed lasers for different applications. First, he developed frequency doubled single frequency dye lasers. Then he developed RF-excited CO2-lasers for industrial applications before he started working on thin disk lasers. With his group he demonstrated high output power and high efficiency from one single disk, simultaneously. Additionally, Giesen worked on characterization of lasers and laser-optics and on standardization of test procedures for laser-beams and –optics within ISO working groups.