Theodore Cohen (chemist)
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- Tufts University (B.S.)
- University of Southern California (Ph.D.)
Theodore Cohen | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | May 11, 1929[1] Boston, Massachusetts, US |
| Died | December 13, 2017 (aged 88) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US |
| Education |
|
| Spouse | Pearl Silverman |
| Children | 2 |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Organic chemistry |
| Institutions | |
| Doctoral advisor | Jerome A. Berson |
Theodore Cohen (May 11, 1929 – December 13, 2017) was an American organic chemist and chemistry professor at University of Pittsburgh.[1][2][3][4] He is known for his research on organic chemistry,[1] and particularly on organosulfur compounds,[3][5] on organometallic chemistry,[4][5] and on the synthesis of phenols.[6]
Cohen was born in Boston, the son of a furrier from England, and was the first in his family with a college education.[3] He graduated from Tufts University in 1951 with a degree in chemistry.[1][2] He was guided towards science instead of medicine in a chance encounter with Isaac Asimov while working a summer job as a waiter,[3] and completed his Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of Southern California in 1955,[1][2] helping to support his graduate studies by working as an extra in the movies of Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy.[3] His doctoral research, supervised by Jerome A. Berson, concerned the synthesis of alkaloids found in ipecac, and the chemical properties of pyridines.[5]
After postdoctoral research as a Fulbright scholar at the University of Glasgow, working with Derek Barton,[6] he joined the University of Pittsburgh chemistry faculty in 1956,[1] and became one of the first professors at the university to bring in federal grant money for his research.[1][4] He retired as a professor emeritus in 1999, but continued to do research in his laboratory, often working 80-hour weeks.[1][5]
At the University of Pittsburgh, he was the doctoral advisor to over 40 students.[4]
