Seymour Stanley Cohen was born on 30 April 1917 in Brooklyn, New York. He attended Boys' High School in Brooklyn and then received a B.S. from the City College of New York in 1936. He was married in 1940 to Elaine Pear and later had two children, Michael and Sara. Cohen studied biochemistry with Erwin Chargaff at Columbia University, where he received his PhD in 1941. He had an Abbott Laboratory Fellowship from 1940 to 1941. In his thesis, "The Thromboplastic Protein from Lungs," Cohen focused on the isolation of thromboplastin from beef lung and the chemical and immunological characterization of particles of lipoprotein containing RNA.
Cohen had a postdoctoral fellowship at the Rockefeller Institute, where he worked with Wendell M. Stanley on plant viruses from 1941 to 1942, funded by the National Research Council. He returned to Columbia University from 1942 to 1943 as a research associate in biochemistry. While there, he did research for the Office of Scientific Research and Development.
In 1943, Cohen left New York for a Johnson Foundation fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1945, he became Instructor in Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania's Children's Hospital and was subsequently named Assistant Professor of Biochemistry in Pediatrics in 1947. Cohen received a Guggenheim Fellowship during the next year, which he used to study at the Pasteur Institute with André Lwoff and Jacques Monod from September 1947 to August 1948. During the summers of 1951 and 1952, he received a Lalor Foundation fellowship for study at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.
At the University of Pennsylvania, Cohen became Associate Professor of Biochemistry and of Pediatrics in 1950 and then Professor of Biochemistry and of Pediatrics in 1954. During a full career at the University of Pennsylvania, Cohen held two professorships: the American Cancer Society Charles Hayden Professorship of Biochemistry (1957-1971) and the Hartzell Professorship of Therapeutic Research (1963-1971). In addition, he was also Chairman of the Department of Therapeutic Research from 1963 to 1971. During this period, Cohen was a visiting professor at the Radium Institute in 1967, gave the Jesup Lectures at Columbia University in 1967, and was a visiting professor at the Collège de France in 1970.
In 1971, Cohen left the University of Pennsylvania for the University of Colorado in Denver, where he became Professor in the School of Medicine (until 1972), as well as the American Cancer Society Professor of Microbiology (until 1976). During the time from 1973 to 1974, Cohen was a Fogarty Scholar at the National Cancer Institute, as well as a Smithsonian Scholar. In 1974, he was a visiting professor at Hadassah Medical School in Israel and at the University of Tokyo.
In 1976, Cohen left the University of Colorado for the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where he was named Distinguished Professor of Pharmacological Sciences and American Cancer Society Professor. From 1982 to 1983, he was a Guggenheim Fellow at the Pasteur Institute and a Fellow at the National Humanities Center in North Carolina (he also held the latter position in 1985). In 1983, he was a Lady Davis Fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In 1985, Cohen became Emeritus Professor of Pharmacological Sciences at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He was a Visiting Presidential Scholar at the University of California in San Francisco in 1988.
Cohen received many awards and honors during his career. He received the Eli Lilly Award in bacteriology and immunology in 1951 for research on the biochemical relationship between viruses and the cells that they infect. He received the Mead Johnson Award given by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 1952. He received the Newcomb Cleveland Award of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1955 for the best paper presented at the 1955 meeting. The paper, "Molecular Bases of the Parasitism of Some Bacterial Viruses," showed, by studying the metabolic changes in virus infections of bacteria, that molecules of mutant organisms (viruses and bacteria) can be distinguished chemically.
Cohen was one of two scientists in the country in 1957 to receive a lifetime grant from the American Cancer Society for support of his continuing research interests. He also received the French Society of Biological Chemists Medal in 1964; the Borden Award of the American Association of Medical Colleges in 1967; an honorary degree from the Université Catholique de Louvain in 1972; the Passano Award in 1974; the Karl August Forster Prize of the Mainz Academy of Science and Letters in 1978; a medal from the Alumni Foundation of the City College of New York in 1978; and an honorary degree from the University of Kuopio in 1982. Furthermore, he was named an honorary citizen of Montpellier, France in 1984, in recognition of his scientific achievements. He was nominated several times for the Nobel Prize and is therefore included among the group of people who hold the "Forty-First Chair" (scientists deemed worthy candidates for the Nobel Prize by the Nobel committee).
Cohen was on the editorial boards of
Cohen is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; an honorary member of the Société Française de Microbiologie and of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (1972); and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1963), the American Chemical Society, the National Academy of Sciences (1967), the New York Academy of Sciences (1949); the Society of Bacteriology, the Society of Biological Chemists, and the Society of General Physiologists (President, 1968).
Cohen's work on bacterial viruses, begun in 1945, was the first systematic exploration of the biochemistry of virus-infected cells and of how viruses multiply. In 1952, he and Gerard R. Wyatt discovered that one of the T-even viruses that infect
Other research during Cohen's career (his bibliography contains over 250 publications) included delineating the phenomenon of thymineless death; developing derivatives of ara-A compound; working on RNA synthesis; studying the effects of polyamines on metabolic systems; and studying plant viruses (including viral cations). Much of his teaching and many of the review papers were concerned with problems of comparative biochemistry and biochemical evolution.
Cohen has also published works on the history of science, including an article about Joseph Priestley and Thomas Cooper ("Two Refugee Chemists in the United States, 1794: How We See Them") in the
Cohen lives in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, where he is currently working on a text on polyamines and on a biography of the chemist, Thomas Cooper.
The Seymour S. Cohen Papers (1938-1990) contain correspondence, subject files, manuscripts of published and unpublished works by Cohen, manuscripts and research notes by students and colleagues, research notes by Cohen, and photographs, which document Cohen's career as a biochemist.
The papers (52 boxes; 25.5 linear feet) are divided into six series:
Cite as: Seymour S. Cohen Papers, American Philosophical Society.
The Cohen Papers were donated by Seymour S. Cohen in 1987 (Accession 1987-710ms). An addition to the collection was made in 1990 and in 1995 (Accession 1995-739ms). It is expected that further additions will be made to this collection.
Catalogued by Miriam Spectre, 1995.
Reprints have been moved to the printed materials collection of the APS library. If a reprint was found as an enclosure, a photocopy of the title page was filed in its place. To retrieve reprints, consult the card catalog for printed materials.
This collection contains materials which relate to the history of genetics.
Incoming and outgoing manuscript and typescript letters, carbons, telegrams, and postcards generated during Cohen's career. Series I is arranged alphabetically by correspondent's name and then chronologically within each folder.
When a correspondence file includes letters to a third party (i.e., not Cohen), the name is indicated on the container list by using an indent under the folder title.
Unidentified correspondence has been filed as "Unidentified" and is arranged chronologically. Enclosed manuscripts have been removed from this series and placed in Series III or IV as appropriate. As with the reprints, a photocopy of the title page was filed with the original letter. Cross-references are also given for enclosed photographs, which have been removed to Series VI. Letters of reference are filed under the name of the person who is the subject of the letter.
The bulk of this series covers the 1960s to the 1970s. Correspondents include biochemists, chemists, geneticists, students, and publishers. Among the topics covered in this series are: research on polyamines and nucleic acids; conferences; the publishing of journal articles; and participation in professional societies. There is correspondence concerning Cohen's affiliations with the American Association for Cancer Research, the American Cancer Society, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the National Academy of Sciences, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Upjohn Company. Also in this series is correspondence about Cohen's grants from the Commonwealth Fund and the National Institutes of Health. Notes and telegrams congratulating Cohen on being elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1967 are filed in this series under "National Academy of Sciences--Congratulations."
Lauffer, Max A.
-See also Ser.I, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
-See also Ser.II, same title
Leung, Hazel Barner; Tono, Henrique
-See also Ser.I, Leung, Hazel Barner
-See also Ser.I, Tono, Henrique
Luria, Salvador E.
-See also Ser.II, Borden Award
Science
-See also Ser.I, Virology
-See Ser.I, Leung, Hazel Barner
-See also Ser.I, Benesch, Ruth E.
Benesch, Reinhold; Jones, Mary Ellen
some in French
-See Ser.I, Mudd, Stuart
Haskins, Caryl P.; Tabor, Herbert; Trager, William
-See also Ser.I, Haskins, Caryl P.
-See also Ser.I, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Wollman, Elie
-See also Ser.I, Wollman, Elie
some in French
-See also Ser.I, Kansas State University
-See also Ser.I, Glazer, Robert I.
some in French
-See Ser.I, International Union of Biochemistry
Plunkett, William K., Jr.
-See also Ser.I, Plunkett, William K., Jr.
Mountford, Kent
-See also Ser.I, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Rogers, Stanfield
-See also Ser.I, Rogers, Stanfield
some in French
-See also Ser.I, Columbia University
-See also Ser.III, "Erwin Chargaff: Scientist"
Levin, Eugene G.
Green, Maurice
-See also Ser.I, Université Catholique de Louvain
-See also Ser.I, Progress in Nucleic Acid Research and Molecular Biology
Jacob, François
Chargaff, Erwin; Hayashi, Teru
some in French
-See Ser.I, Société de Chimie Biologique
Monroy, Alberto; Moscona, A.A.
Neyman, Jerzy
-See Ser.I, Stewart, Walter W.
Chu, M.Y.
-See also Ser.I, International Union of Biochemistry
-See Ser.I, Institut Pasteur
-See Ser.I, Prairie, Celia Esther Freda
-See Ser.I, Furie, Bruce
Furie, Barbara
-See also Ser.I, Kaufman, Herbert E.
Kuo, Kenneth W.
-See also Ser.I, Parello, Joseph
Busch, Harris
Polglazov, Boris
some in French
Mudd, Stuart
-See also Ser.I, Cline, Richard E.
-See also Ser.I, Miller, Gail L.
-See also Ser.I, Westphal, O.
Plant Physiology
-See also Ser.I, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
in French
Bitonti, Alan J.
-See also Ser.I, Bitonti, Alan J.
-See also Ser.I, Columbia University
-See also Ser.I, Illinois Institute of Technology
Altman, Arie; Greenblatt, Charles L.; Keynan, Alex
-See Ser.I, International Union of Biochemistry
-See also Ser.I, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
-See also Ser.I, Tamm, Igor
-See also Ser.I, Latarjet, Raymond
Hayashi, Teru
Some in French
Some in French; Jacob, François; Latarjet, Raymond
Seiler, Nikolaus
Calvin, Melvin; Hedén, C.-G.; Florkin, Marcel; Lederberg, Joshua; Ochoa, Severo
-See also Ser.I, Collège de France
-See also Ser.I, Institut Pasteur
-See also Ser.I, Benesch, Ruth E.
Sakai, Ted Tetsuo
-See also Ser.I, Sakai, Ted Tetsuo
Plunkett, William K., Jr.
-See also Ser.I, Plunkett, William K., Jr.
Kendrew, John C.
North, Thomas W.
-See also Ser.I, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Buck, Clayton A.
Furth, John J.
-See Ser.I, Journal of Molecular Biology
-See Ser.I, Kersten, Walter
Kersten, Helga
-See also Ser.I, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
some in French
-See also Ser.I, Furth, John J.
-See also Ser.I, Syntex
-See also Ser.I, Institut Pasteur
-See also Ser.I, Advances in Virus Research
-See also Ser.I, International Union of Biochemistry
The American Museum of Natural History; Moscona, A.A.
-See also Ser.I, The American Museum of Natural History
-See also Ser.I, Moscona, A.A.; Levin, Eugene G.
-See Ser.I, Clark, Jeffrey L.
-See Ser.I, Stern, Janet Lichtenstein
-See also Ser.I, Roth, Jay S.
-See also Ser.I, American Society for Microbiology
-See also Ser.I, Virology
some in French
Westengaard, Mogens
-See also Ser.I, The Upjohn Company
Maley, Gladys
-See Ser.I, Maley, Frank
in French
Wyatt, Gerard R.
Green, Maurice
-See also Ser.I, Gros, François
-See also Ser.I, Current Topics in Developmental Biology
Leung, Hazel Barner
-See also Ser.I, Current Topics in Developmental Biology
-See also Ser.I, Leung, Hazel Barner
-See Ser.I, Carpenter, Edward J.
-See also Ser.I, Green, Maurice
Handler, Philip
Tosteson, Daniel C.
-See also Ser.I, Davis, Bernard D.
-See also Ser.I, Journal of Virology
-See also Ser.I, The Upjohn Company
Carter, Charles E.; Hollaender, Alexander
-See also Ser.I, International Union of Biochemistry
Schultz, Julius
-See also Ser.I, Gjerset, Ruth Anne
Rapp, Fred
Sindhu, Ram K.
-See also Ser.I, Greenberg, Michael L.
-See also Ser.I, Sindhu, Ram K.
Cancer Research; Journal of Cellular Physiology
-See also Ser.I, Cancer Research
-See also Ser.I, Journal of Cellular Physiology
some in French
-See also Ser.I, Goldfarb, David
Bitonti, Alan J.
Cohn, Waldo E.
-See also Ser.I, Eleanor Roosevelt Institute for Cancer Research, Inc.
-See also Ser.I, The Pennsylvania State University
-See also Ser.I, The Rockefeller Foundation
Reich, Edward
Caspari, Ernst W.
-See also Ser.I, Caspari, Ernst W.
Puck, Theodore T.
Lucas-Lenard, Jean
Szybalski, Waclaw
-See also Ser.VI, same title
The Journal of Biological Chemistry
-See also Ser.I, The Journal of Biological Chemistry
-See also Ser.I, Papanicolaou Cancer Research Institute
-See also Ser.I, Balint, Robert F.
-See also Ser.I, International Conference on Polyamines
Kanazir, Dusan
Plant Physiology
-See also Ser.I, Plant Physiology
-See also Ser.I, Southern Research Institute
Courtois, Jean Émile
-See Ser.I, Institute for Medical Research
Skipper, Howard E.
-See Ser.I, Stanier, Roger Y.
Stanier, Germaine Bazire
-See Ser.I, Zamecnik, Paul C.
Feder, Ned
Edward S. Sulkin - Correspondence, 1965-1966
Krantz, Allen
-See also Ser.I, Rutgers the State University of New Jersey
-See also Ser.I, Bitonti, Alan J.
some in French
Horsfall, Frank L., Jr.
-See also Ser.I, The American Museum of Natural History
-See also Ser.I, Nelson, Leonard
-See Ser.I, Bitonti, Alan J.
some in French
Some in French; Cocito, Carlo G.
-See also Ser.III, "The Molecular Biology of Viruses"
Magee, Wayne E.; North, Thomas W.
Balint, Robert F.; Luria, Salvador E.
Wyatt, Gerard R.
-See Ser.I, Maalfe, Ole
Green, Maurice
Borek, Ernest
-See also Ser.I, Borek, Ernest
-See also Ser.I, Merck, Sharpe and Dohme
-See also Ser.I, Weed, Lawrence L.
-See also Ser.VI, Cohen, Seymour S. and Tungsen Xu
Stephenson, Sis
Clippings, announcements and programs for lectures, some syllabi for courses, grant applications to the National Institutes of Health, meeting minutes for the American Cancer Society, research reports to the Commonwealth Fund, and a small amount of information about Scientists and Engineers for Johnson. Also in this series are Cohen's bibliography and some biographical material on Cohen, including descriptions of his research projects.
-See Oversized
-See also Ser.I, Association of American Medical Colleges
-See Oversized
in French
in French
-See Oversized
-See also Oversized
-See Oversized
Abstracts, typescripts, and some lectures. Some of the works were done with students (e.g., Hazel Barner Leung) and colleagues (e.g., Thomas F. Anderson). In these cases, cross-references have been made in Series IV. Included among the works is a lecture on Erwin Chargaff's work that Cohen gave when Chargaff was presented with the Carl Neuberg Medal in 1958. Also in this series is a manuscript of comments that Cohen wrote about his published papers while looking over the laboratory notebooks that are now contained in Series IV and V.
-See also Ser.V, "tRNA Studies. Binding of Spermidine, Ethidium..."
-See Ser.V, "Attempted Hydrolosis of NA by Dizomethane; Methylation of Nucleotides"
-See also Ser.V, "Isolation and Characterization of Tobacco Necrosis Viruses"
-See also Ser.VI, "Properties of Ultracentrifugally..."
Laboratory notebooks, laboratory notes, and some manuscripts. Most of the works were done by students and laboratory assistants in the 1960s. In the case of experiments that were carried out by more than one person, each person has been cross-referenced. The laboratory notebooks contain graphs, charts, photographs, and some test tubes (see Deborah Marcu, "Protoplasts"). There are many experiments by Judy Heyward, Lillie Lapi, Hazel Barner Leung, Janet Lichtenstein Stern, and Ellen Streibel. Subjects include polyamines, TYMV, bleomycin, ara-A, and adenine. Photographs have been left in this series, and extensive conservation work needs to be done (see Conservation Note).
-See also Ser.IV, Champey, Elaine and Judy Heyward. "Polyamines of TYMV..."
-See also Ser.V, "Early Studies--Before Protoplasts"
-See also Ser.V, Protoplasts
-See also Ser.III, "Metabolic Requirements for the Lethality..."
-See also Ser.V, "Cryptotethya, ara A & B96..."
-See also Ser.III, "D-Arabinosyl Nucleosides..."
-See also Ser.IV, Stern, Janet Lichtenstein and Hazel Barner Leung. "Conversion of Phage-Induced RNA..."
-See also Ser.V, "Manometry of Cho Metabolism"
-See Ser.V, same title
-See Ser.V, same title
-See Ser.V, same title
Laboratory notes, graphs, charts, photographs, and a few test tubes (see "Protoplasts"). Experiments that were done with students are cross-referenced in Series IV. Many of the experiments are from the 1940s and 1950s. The earliest material is "Thromboplastin (Towards Dissertation)" dated 1938-1941. Subjects for the experiments include phosphogluconate, chloroplasts, protoplasts, ara, TAU, RNA polymerase, and polyamines. Photographs have been left in this series, and extensive conservation work needs to be done (see Conservation Note).
-See also Ser.V, "Mg++ vs. Polyamines in..."
-See also Ser.III, "Properties of Ultracentrifugally..."
-See also Ser.V, "Bacterial Extracts + Cations..."
-See also Ser.VI, same title
contains test tubes
-See also Ser.III, "The Binding of Polyamines and Ethidium to tRNA"
Photographs of Cohen in his laboratory, at conferences, at the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, and with Alfred D. Hershey. Also included are photographs of Cohen's students and photographs of experiments results (e.g., of chloroplasts).
-See also Ser.VI, American Association for Cancer Research. Board of Directors
-See also Ser.VI, Gordan Research Conference
-See also Ser.VI, International Symposium on Polyamines in Normals and Neoplastic Cells
-See also Ser.VI, The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research
-See also Ser.VI, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
-See Ser.VI, Cohen, Seymour S. and Alfred D. Hershey
-See Ser.VI, Cohen, Seymour S. and Tungsen Xu