Apparatus for defrosting frozen biological matter, the apparatus comprising: a container that has an interior space for receiving biological matter, the container having an upper part that extends around an upper part of the interior space, a central part that extends around a central part of the interior space, and a lower part that extends around a lower part of the interior space； a set of thermal transfer devices functionally associated with the container to transfer heat between the container and the thermal transfer device, comprising, at a minimum: a first thermal transfer device functionally associated with the upper part of the container for transfer heat between the top of the container and the first thermal transfer device； a second thermal transfer device functionally associated with the central upper part of the container for transferring heat between the central upper part of the container and the second thermal transfer device； a third thermal transfer device functionally associated with the central lower part of the container for transferring heat between the central lower part of the container and the third thermal transfer device； and a fourth thermal transfer device functionally associated with the lower part of the container to transfer heat between the lower part of the container and the fourth thermal transfer device； and, at a minimum, a controller functionally associated with the first, second, third and fourth thermal transfer devices to control the first, second, third and fourth thermal transfer devices independently of each other, at least said, a controller, adapted to control the first thermal transfer device for controlling the thermal transfer between the first thermal transfer device and the top of the container； controlling the second thermal transfer device for the control of the thermal transfer between the second thermal transfer device and the upper central part of the container； controlling the third thermal transfer device for
