Biography:Michael Cohen (physicist)
Michael Cohen | |
|---|---|
| Education | B.S. Cornell, Ph.D. Caltech |
| Occupation | Professor & Condensed Matter Physicist |
| Employer | University of Pennsylvania |
| Known for | Co-founded Aspen Center for Physics |
| Honours | Fellow of the American Physical Society |
Michael Cohen is an American condensed matter physicist and Professor Emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania. His work investigates the quantum mechanics of real-world material systems, including liquid helium, ferroelectrics, and biological membranes.[1] In 1962, with colleagues George Stranahan and Robert W. Craig, Cohen co-founded the Aspen Center for Physics (ACP),[2][3] described as a "utopia for physicists,"[4] for which he remains an Honorary Trustee. The American Physical Society appointed him a Fellow.[5] In 2011, Cohen completed a textbook entitled, Classical Mechanics: a Critical Introduction, in collaboration with fellow physicist Larry Gladney, who prepared the solutions manual.[6][1]
Education & Career
Cohen earned his Bachelor of Science degree at Cornell University in 1951. Under the supervision of Richard Feynman, with whom he published papers on the physics of liquid helium,[7][8][9] Cohen earned his Ph.D. at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 1956. Cohen held postdoctoral positions at Caltech and the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University before joining the faculty in the Department of Physics at the University of Pennsylvania.[10] Among the PhD candidates whom Cohen supervised is the physicist Mark G. Kuzyk.[11]
In 1962, Cohen worked with colleagues George Stranahan and Robert W. Craig to establish and raise funds for the Aspen Center for Physics to foster collaborative research among physicists from different sub-fields, independent of any one university or institution. Together they generated initial support from the U.S. Office of Naval Research and the Needmor Fund to fund the center's first building.[12] A historical retrospective of the ACP, written upon its fiftieth anniversary, suggested that Cohen's role in the center's establishment was that he "found the talent" – that is, drew in the physicists – for the early programs.[13]
References
- ↑ "Michael Cohen | Department of Physics and Astronomy". https://live-sas-physics.pantheon.sas.upenn.edu/people/emeritus/michael-cohen.
- ↑ "Aspen Center for Physics". https://www.aspenphys.org/aboutus/history/first35years/index.html.
- ↑ "Aspen Center for Physics" (in en). http://www.aps.org/programs/honors/history/historicsites/aspencenter.cfm.
- ↑ Overbye, Dennis (2001-08-28). "In Aspen, Physics on a High Plane" (in en-US). The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. https://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/28/science/in-aspen-physics-on-a-high-plane.html.
- ↑ "Michael Cohen | Department of Physics and Astronomy". https://live-sas-physics.pantheon.sas.upenn.edu/people/emeritus/michael-cohen.
- ↑ Cohen, Michael (2011). Classical Mechanics: a Critical Introduction. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Department of Physics and Astronomy.
- ↑ Cohen, Michael; Feynman, Richard P. (1957-07-01). "Theory of Inelastic Scattering of Cold Neutrons from Liquid Helium" (in en). Physical Review 107 (1): 13–24. doi:10.1103/PhysRev.107.13. ISSN 0031-899X. https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRev.107.13.
- ↑ Feynman, R. P.; Cohen, Michael (1956-06-01). "Energy Spectrum of the Excitations in Liquid Helium" (in en). Physical Review 102 (5): 1189–1204. doi:10.1103/PhysRev.102.1189. ISSN 0031-899X. https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRev.102.1189.
- ↑ Feynman, R. P.; Cohen, Michael (September 1955). "The Character of the Roton State in Liquid Helium" (in en). Progress of Theoretical Physics 14 (3): 261–263. doi:10.1143/PTP.14.261. ISSN 0033-068X. https://academic.oup.com/ptp/article-lookup/doi/10.1143/PTP.14.261.
- ↑ "Michael Cohen | Department of Physics and Astronomy". https://live-sas-physics.pantheon.sas.upenn.edu/people/emeritus/michael-cohen.
- ↑ "Physics Tree - Michael Cohen". https://academictree.org/physics/peopleinfo.php?pid=179486.
- ↑ Stonington, Joel (2006-07-06). "Aspen’s one-story ivory tower" (in en-US). https://www.aspentimes.com/news/aspens-one-story-ivory-tower/.
- ↑ Turner, Michael S. (2012-06-01). "Aspen physics turns 50" (in en). Nature 486 (7403): 315–317. doi:10.1038/486315a. ISSN 1476-4687. https://www.nature.com/articles/486315a.
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