Julius Berend Cohen FRS (6 May 1859 in Eccles – 14 June 1935 in Coniston) was an English

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...

. He studied chemistry with

Hans von Pechmann Hans von Pechmann (1 April 1850 – 19 April 1902) was a German chemist, renowned for his discovery of diazomethane in 1894. Pechmann condensation and Pechmann pyrazole synthesis. He also first prepared 1,2-diketones (e.g., diacetyl), acetonedicarb ...

at the

University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's List of universities in Germany, sixth-oldest u ...

. One of his students was

Henry Drysdale Dakin Henry Drysdale Dakin FRS (12 March 188010 February 1952) was an English chemist. He was born in London as the youngest of 8 children to a family of steel merchants from Leeds. As a school boy, he conducted water analysis with the Leeds City Ana ...

Biography

Julius Berend Cohen and his twin brother Adolf were the only boys of ten children of Sigismund Cohen, a cotton merchant born in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, and Zena, née Berend, from

South Shields South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. Historically, it was known in Roman times as Arbeia, and as Caer Urfa by Early Middle Ages. According to the 20 ...

, who were married in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. Julius was born on 6 May 1859 in Eccles. Adolf fulfilled his father’s hope that he would join the family business. Julius tried it for a year but then switched to his first love: chemistry. From 1878-1880 he studied at

Owens College Owens may refer to: Places in the United States *Owens Station, Delaware *Owens Township, St. Louis County, Minnesota *Owens, Missouri *Owens, Ohio *Owens, Virginia People * Owens (surname), including a list of people with the name * Owens Bro ...

, where

Arthur Smithells Arthur Smithells, Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George, CMG Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (24 May 1860 – 24 February 1939) was a British chemist. Early life and education Smithells was born in Bury, Lancashire on 24 May 1860. ...

was also working; the two were to become lifelong friends. After an unhappy spell in industry at the

Clayton Aniline Company The Clayton Aniline Company Ltd. was a British manufacturer of dyestuffs, founded in 1876 by Charles Dreyfus in Clayton, Manchester. Early history Charles Dreyfus was a French emigrant chemist and entrepreneur, who founded the Clayton Aniline Co ...

Cohen joined Smithells in moving to Baeyer’s laboratory in Munich in 1882, where he worked with

. He remained for two years and gained his PhD. Back in Manchester he was appointed as a Demonstrator in chemistry at Owens College. In 1890 he joined Smithells at Yorkshire College, Leeds; he had been there since 1885. When the college gained full university status in 1904, Cohen was appointed professor of organic chemistry. When he retired in 1924 he was made Emeritus Professor and the University awarded him the honorary degree of D.Sc. Cohen was elected a Fellow of the Chemical Society in 1885, served on its Council from 1920- 1922 and from 1925-1928, in which time he was also a Vice-President. In 1911 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1930 Cohen received the honorary degree of LLD from the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

Family

Julius Cohen married Hilda Hughes in 1892. Over the next nine years they had two sons and two daughters; all were born in Leeds, and all studied at its University. Their elder son, Adolph Broadfield, was killed in action in 1917, aged 24. The close connections between the Cohens and the Smithells was reflected in marriages. Julius’s sister Amy married Edwin Smithells, brother of Arthur. They had a son, Colin James, who married Mary Cohen, the elder daughter of Julius and Hilda, in 1918. In 1932 Julius and Hilda moved to Thwaite Cottage, Coniston. Julius died there on 14 June 1935. He was buried at St Andrew, Coniston. Hilda died on 21 November 1944, and was buried in the same grave.

Works

*''The Owens College Course of Practical Organic Chemistry'', Macmillan & Co, 1887 *''Theoretical organic chemistry'', Macmillan and Co Ltd, 1902 *''Practical organic chemistry for advanced students'', Macmillan, 1907 *''Smoke. A study of town air'', Edward Arnold, 1912 *''A Class-Book of Organic Chemistry'', Macmillan & Co, 1917

References

External links

* *
Entry
i

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, Julius 1859 births 1935 deaths Scientists from Manchester English chemists Fellows of the Royal Society