An electrosurgical generator, which has a high-voltage DC power supply unit and a resonant circuit connected thereto. The resonant circuit has an output transformer, the primary winding of which is part of the resonant circuit and the secondary winding of which is connected to connections for an electrosurgical instrument. The resonant circuit is furthermore connected to an actuation circuit, which is configured to periodically emit actuation pulses for the purpose of exciting the resonant circuit using the resonant frequency thereof. The actuation circuit includes a synchronization unit, which is connected to the resonant circuit, and includes at least one gradient detector and is configured to synchronize actuation pulses with a reversal point of the voltage profile of the voltage in the resonant circuit.
