Gerrit Kroesen studied Applied Physics at Eindhoven University of Technology from 1977 to 1983. He completed his PhD on plasma physics in 1988 and was appointed Assistant Professor in the Elementary Processes in Gas Discharges (EPG) group in 1985. He took a sabbatical at IBM in New York (USA) in 1990, and another one at the University of Kyoto (Japan) in 1997. Kroesen still works in the EPG group, since 1996 as Associate Professor and since 2000 as Full Professor, focusing on experimental plasma physics. He became Dean of Applied Physics in 2012. Gerrit Kroesen has constantly strived to push the boundaries of plasma physics, by following a combined effort of experiments, diagnostics, theory and modeling. His research focuses on the internal elementary processes in the plasma, but also touches upon phenomena induced at surfaces that are in contact with the plasma. Different application areas have captured his interest over the years. Starting in plasma etching and plasma deposition, he moved on to environmental applications, plasma displays, dusty plasmas, EUV producing plasmas, EUV produced plasmas, to medical applications. He coauthored 200+ papers and 10 patents, and supervised 150+ PhD and MSc theses. Gerrit Kroesen was awarded the Von Engel and Franklin Prize in 2015 for “his pioneering work on plasma deposition and etching where he improved the understanding of plasma and sheath dynamics, plasma and sheath chemistry” and for “his leading contributions to dusty plasma physics, lighting and EUV sources, and his pioneering work in plasma medicine”.