Waldo E. Cohn (1910–1999) was an American biochemist known principally for developing techniques for separation of isotopes necessary for the

Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...

Birth and education

He was born in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, California, on 28 June 1910, and studied at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, where he worked under the supervision of D. M. Greenberg, and received his Ph.D. on the basis of a thesis on radioactive phosphorus (³²P) produced in the

cyclotron A cyclotron is a type of particle accelerator invented by Ernest O. Lawrence in 1929–1930 at the University of California, Berkeley, and patented in 1932. Lawrence, Ernest O. ''Method and apparatus for the acceleration of ions'', filed: Janu ...

and its effects in rats, work later published with Greenberg. In the period 1939–1942 he carried out post-doctoral research in the

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

, where he worked on determination of haemoglobin in tissue extracts.

Career at Oak Ridge

From 1942 he participated in the Manhattan Project, working initially at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

, but after 1943, and for the rest of his career, at

Oak Ridge, Tennessee Oak Ridge is a city in Anderson and Roane counties in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Tennessee, about west of downtown Knoxville. Oak Ridge's population was 31,402 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Knoxville Metropolitan Area. Oak ...

. There he introduced the use of

ion-exchange chromatography Ion chromatography (or ion-exchange chromatography) separates ions and polar molecules based on their affinity to the ion exchanger. It works on almost any kind of charged molecule—including large proteins, small nucleotides, and amino acids ...

for separation of isotopes needed for developing the

atomic bomb A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...

. On account of the secrecy attached to the Manhattan Project, Cohn published rather little during this period, but that included the start of a long-term interest in nucleic acids.

Chemical and biochemical nomenclature

In his capacity as Director of

NAS Nas (born 1973) is the stage name of American rapper Nasir Jones. Nas, NaS, or NAS may also refer to: Aviation * Nasair, a low-cost airline carrier and subsidiary based in Eritrea * National Air Services, an airline in Saudi Arabia ** Nas Air ( ...

- NRC Office of Biochemical Nomenclature, located in Oak Ridge, Waldo Cohn worked closely with the

IUPAC The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC ) is an international federation of National Adhering Organizations working for the advancement of the chemical sciences, especially by developing nomenclature and terminology. It is ...

on chemical and biochemical nomenclature, and maintained a publicly available collection of the Recommendation of the IUPAC- IUB Commission on Biochemical Nomenclature, as noted, for example, in the document on one-letter symbols for amino acids.

Work outside science

Music

Cohn was an accomplished cellist, and created the Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra, which held its first concerts in 1944, with early soloists including

Isaac Stern Isaac Stern (July 21, 1920 – September 22, 2001) was an American violinist. Born in Poland, Stern came to the US when he was 14 months old. Stern performed both nationally and internationally, notably touring the Soviet Union and China, and ...

Yaltah Menuhin Yaltah Menuhin (7 October 1921 – 9 June 2001) was an American-born British pianist, artist and poet. Early life Yaltah was born in San Francisco, the youngest of three extraordinarily musically gifted children. Her siblings were Yehudi Menuhin ...

and

Percy Grainger Percy Aldridge Grainger (born George Percy Grainger; 8 July 188220 February 1961) was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist who lived in the United States from 1914 and became an American citizen in 1918. In the course of a long an ...

. He played the cello in the orchestra, and also served as its conductor for the first eleven years.

Desegregation

Cohn was elected chairman of the town advisory council of Oak Ridge in 1953. In that capacity he promoted a resolution urging the federal government to include the town and its schools in an order desegregating military bases that had just been signed by President

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

, and Oak Ridge became one of the first school districts in the southern USA to desegregate its schools. This change was unpopular with many residents, and led to a recall petition. This failed, but Cohn did resign his chairmanship of the Town Council, while remaining a member.

Death and family

Waldo Cohn died in Oak Ridge on 27 August 1999, survived by his widow Charmian Edlin Cohn, who died in 2007, and numerous children and grandchildren. His brother Roy (not to be confused with the notorious lawyer of the same name) worked as a chemist in the paint industry in the San Francisco Bay Area.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cohn, Waldo 1910 births 1999 deaths American biochemists University of California, Berkeley alumni Scientists from San Francisco American musicians Manhattan Project people