 The institute was founded in Frankfurt am Main as the "Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Biophysics" in 1937.However, it had a predecessor, the "Institut für Physikalische Grundlagen der Medizin" which had been established in 1921 by Friedrich Dessauer, an admirer of Wilhelm Röntgen, who endeavored to apply radiation physics to medicine and biology.Being a conservative member of parliament for the democratic "Zentrumspartei", Dessauer opposed the National Socialists' rise to power and was then forced to emigrate in 1934.