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Saul G. Cohen

by Susan J. Ainsworth
June 28, 2010 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 88, Issue 26

Saul G. Cohen, 93, an emeritus professor of chemistry at Brandeis University, in Waltham, Mass., died at his home in Lexington, Mass., on April 24.

After growing up in Boston, Cohen earned an A.B. degree from Harvard University in 1937. Then, in the midst of the Great Depression, he secured a teaching assistantship in physical organic chemistry with Paul D. Bartlett, then a junior professor at Harvard, where Cohen earned a Ph.D. in 1940.

Failing to land an academic position, Cohen joined the Columbia Chemicals Division of Pittsburgh Plate Glass (now PPG Industries) in 1944, conducting research on the polymerization of styrene. The following year, he was recruited by Edwin Land, cofounder of Polaroid, who was working on what would become instant photography. Cohen was permitted to continue his own research on free radicals and polymerization but also helped solve important problems that allowed the company to commercialize its new film and camera. He served as the company’s chief chemist from 1948 until 1950.

Eager to begin an academic career, Cohen then accepted an offer to teach organic chemistry at newly founded Brandeis while also serving as a consultant to Polaroid. He became a professor in 1952 and Brandeis’ first University Professor in 1973. Cohen also played a major role in the university’s growth and development, serving as the first chair of its School of Science and its first dean of faculty.

With varied research interests including mechanisms of organic reactions, photochemistry, enzymology, and radiation chemistry, he published scientific papers in numerous journals. Cohen retired in 1986 and began working on his memoirs, which he published in 2008.

He was elected a member of the Board of Overseers at Harvard and was a Fulbright Senior Scholar and a Guggenheim Fellow. He received the Centennial Medal of the Harvard Graduate School of Arts & Sciences and the ACS James Flack Norris Award. Cohen was an emeritus member of ACS, which he joined in 1939.

He is survived by his wife, Anneliese; son, Jonathan; daughter, Elisabeth; stepchildren, David and Elizabeth Kissinger; and eight grandchildren.

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