 While detection of biophotons has been reported by several groups, hypotheses that such biophotons indicate the state of biological tissues and facilitate a form of cellular communication are still under investigation, and claims that biophotons are responsible for physical healing are unsupported.Alexander Gurwitsch, who discovered the existence of biophotons, was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1941 for his mitogenic radiation work.Biophotons may be detected with photomultipliers or by means of an ultra low noise CCD camera to produce an image, using an exposure time of typically 15 minutes for plant materials.