Professor Lars Leksell

Lars Gustaf Fritiof Leksell (1907-1986) was a Swedish physician and Professor of Neurosurgery at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. A pioneer in modern neurosurgery techniques, Professor Leksell is renowned as the inventor of radiosurgery and developer of the advanced radiosurgical platform that bears his name, Leksell Gamma Knife.

Professor Leksell was born in Fässberg, Sweden on November 24, 1907. He received his medical degree from the Karolinska Institute in 1935 and began training in neurosurgery the same year. In 1958, he became Professor of Surgery at University of Lund, and from 1960 until his retirement in 1974, he served as Professor of Neurosurgery at the Karolinska Institute.

His vision for the development of minimally invasive brain surgery animated much of Lars Leksell’s career, and is encapsulated in one of his well known quotes:
 

“The tools used by the surgeon must be adapted to the task and where the human brain is concerned, they cannot be too refined.”