chemistry

Theodore Cohen (chemist)

Theodore Cohen (chemist) is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Theodore Cohen (chemist) rather than just read about it. In short: Theodore Cohen (May 11, 1929 – December 13, 2017) was an American organic chemist and chemistry professor at University of Pittsburgh. He is known for his research on organic chemistry, and particularly on organosulfur compounds, on organometallic chemistry, and on the synthesis of phenols.

Key takeaways

Theodore Cohen (chemist) belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Theodore Cohen (chemist) to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Theodore Cohen (chemist) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Theodore Cohen (May 11, 1929 – December 13, 2017) was an American organic chemist and chemistry professor at University of Pittsburgh. He is known for his research on organic chemistry, and particularly on organosulfur compounds, on organometallic chemistry, and on the synthesis of phenols.

Education and career Cohen was born in Boston, the son of a furrier from England, and was the first in his family with a college education. He graduated from Tufts University in 1951 with a degree in chemistry. He was guided towards science instead of medicine in a chance encounter with Isaac Asimov while working a summer job as a waiter, and completed his Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of Southern California in 1955, helping to support his graduate studies by working as an extra in the movies of Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. His doctoral research, supervised by Jerome A. Berson, concerned the synthesis of alkaloids found in ipecac, and the chemical properties of pyridines. After postdoctoral research as a Fulbright scholar at the University of Glasgow, working with Derek Barton, he joined the University of Pittsburgh chemistry faculty in 1956, and became one of the first professors at the university to bring in federal grant money for his research. He retired as a professor emeritus in 1999, but continued to do research in his laboratory, often working 80-hour weeks. At the University of Pittsburgh, he was the doctoral advisor to over 40 students.

Recognition He was the 2009 winner of the Pittsburgh Award of the Pittsburgh section of the American Chemical Society.

Personal life

Cohen worked at a holiday camp in Massachusetts while he was a student at Tufts. While waiting tables, he courted Pearl Silverman, a bookish woman from New York. The biochemist and author, Isaac Asimov, also vacationed there and became friends with Cohen. Observing the romance, Asimov wrote songs about it for the camp show, "Poor Ted's in bed. He's lonely but well read"; the couple were later married and went on to have two children, Bret and Rima. He died of chronic lymphocytic leukemia at a hospice in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh on December 13, 2017.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Theodore Cohen (chemist)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Theodore Cohen (chemist) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Theodore Cohen (chemist) before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Theodore Cohen (chemist) ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Theodore Cohen (chemist)

In research: Theodore Cohen (chemist) appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Theodore Cohen (chemist) in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Theodore Cohen (chemist) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1929 births, 2017 deaths, 20th-century American chemists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Theodore Cohen (chemist) outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Theodore Cohen (chemist) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Theodore Cohen (chemist) means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Theodore Cohen (chemist) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Theodore Cohen (chemist) in simple terms?

Why does Theodore Cohen (chemist) matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Theodore Cohen (chemist)?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Theodore Cohen (chemist).