Bernard Cohen (physicist)
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Bernard Leonard Cohen (June 14, 1924 – March 17, 2012) was born in Pittsburgh,CV composed and posted currently, http://www.phyast.pitt.edu/~blc/Vita-Pub.htm Retrieved 23 March 2011 and was Professor Emeritus of Physics at the University of Pittsburgh. Professor Cohen was a staunch opponent of the so-called Linear no-threshold model (LNT) which postulates there exists no safe threshold for radiation exposure. His view which has support from a minority. He died in March 2012.


No-threshold and plutonium toxicity debates

Cohen claimed: "All estimates of the cancer risk from low level radiation are based on the linear-no threshold theory (LNT) which is based solely on largely discredited concepts of radiation carcinogenesis, with no experimental verification in the low dose region of the most important applications. These risk estimates are now leading to the expenditure of tens of billions of dollars to protect against dangers whose existence is highly questionable. It is therefore of utmost importance to test the validity of this theory." A conclusion, with an update to the landmark study published 1995, continues: "Since no other plausible explanation has been found after years of effort by myself and others, I conclude that the most plausible explanation for our discrepancy is that the linear-no threshold theory fails, grossly over-estimating the cancer risk in the low dose, low dose rate region. There are no other data capable of testing the theory in that region. An easy answer to the credibility of this conclusion would be for someone to suggest a potential not implausible explanation based on some selected variables. I (or he) will then calculate what values of those variables are required to explain our discrepancy. We can then make a judgement on the plausibility of that explanation. To show that this procedure is not unreasonable, I offer to provide a not-implausible explanation for any finding of any other published ecological study. This alone demonstrates that our work is very different from any other ecological study, and therefore deserves separate consideration."Conclusion, Standard Handbook of Environmental Science, Health, and Technology, Lehr, . Cohen's debates in academic periodicals and published correspondence with
R. William Field R. William Field is an academic scholar and Professor in the Department of Occupational and Environmental Health and Department of Epidemiology within the College of Public Health at the University of Iowa. He received a BS and MS degree in Biol ...
,
Brian J. Smith Brian Jacob Smith (born October 12, 1981) is an American actor, known for his role as Will Gorski in the Netflix-produced series ''Sense8,'' Lieutenant Matthew Scott in the military science fiction television series ''Stargate Universe'', and h ...
(assistant professor of
biostatistics Biostatistics (also known as biometry) are the development and application of statistical methods to a wide range of topics in biology. It encompasses the design of biological experiments, the collection and analysis of data from those experime ...
, University of Iowa), Jerry Puskin (from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency),
Sarah Darby Sarah C. Darby is Professor of Medical Statistics at the University of Oxford. Her research has focused the beneficial effects of smoking cessation, the risk of lung cancer from residential radon, and treatments for early breast cancer. She is als ...
, and Sir Richard Doll and others regarding his radon-related ecologic studies are well known. Among other expert panels, the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer discussed at length Cohen's results then concluded: "The weight of evidence is that the ecological analyses of Cohen can be rejected." In March, 2011, Professor Cohen stated, reflecting on his study and its controversial results, that low levels of radiation can have beneficial health effects and reduce the risks of cancer, "There is evidence on both sides. Whether low-level radiation is protective against cancer, a theory called radiation hormesis, is debated in the scientific community. Furthermore, ... n his viewpoint, and its support found in his exhaustive studiesit could go further and say that no confounding factors (like socio-economic, geography, ethnicity, medical care access, and beyond 500 explored in the analysis) can explain the results. However, my study was designed to test the assumption that the danger of radiation is simply proportional to the radiation dose, which is the only evidence that low-level radiation may be harmful. My conclusion was that that assumption is false." Other scientists disagree and more research has been called for. Subsequent research would join a profound array of positions including a 1982 United Nations' work-group study - UNSCEAR- concluding: "There appear to be no nonspecific effects from low doses of radiation that result in a shortening of the life span." In 1983, Cohen proposed that uranium is effectively inexhaustible, and could therefore be considered a renewable source of energy.


Scholarly achievements

Professor Cohen earned his under-graduate degree from
Case-Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established in 1967, when Western Reserve University, founded in 1826 and named for its location in the Connecticut Western Rese ...
944 Masters from University of Pittsburgh
947 Year 947 ( CMXLVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Summer – A Hungarian army led by Grand Prince Taksony campaigns in Italy, heading ...
and Ph.D from Carnegie-Mellon University 950 He taught at UP (
Pitt Pitt most commonly refers to: *The University of Pittsburgh, commonly known as Pitt, a university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States **Pitt Panthers, the athletic teams of the University of Pittsburgh * Pitt (surname), a surname o ...
) from 1958 as Professor of Physics, Adjunct Prof. of Chemistry, Adjunct Prof. of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Adjunct Prof. of Radiation Health at the Graduate School of Public Health; there also as Adjunct Prof. of Environmental and Occupational Health. He was awarded Professor-Emeritus standing in 1994. From 1965-1978, he was Director of the
Scaife Nuclear Laboratory Scaife is a surname meaning "Boat born" in English. It is derived from Old Norse. Other references include "awry, difficult".Scaife
. A testimony to his conviction on the human safety of background low-level radiation was his offering rewards of up to $10,000 if people provided evidence that the inverse association he found between radon (county averages) and lung cancer (county averages) was due to some factor other than failure of the linear-no threshold theory. Puskin, Smith, Field and others have claimed that his findings are due in part to his inability to control for the inverse association between smoking and radon. When Ralph Nader described plutonium as " the most toxic substance known to mankind", Cohen, then a tenured professor, offered to consume on camera as much
plutonium oxide Plutonium(IV) oxide or (plutonia) is the chemical compound with the formula Pu O2. This high melting-point solid is a principal compound of plutonium. It can vary in color from yellow to olive green, depending on the particle size, temperature a ...
as Nader could consume of caffeine, the stimulant found in coffee and other beverages, which in its pure form has an oral () of 192 milligrams per kilogram in rats. Nader did not accept the challenge.


Publications

Professor Cohen has written six books, including ''Heart of the Atom'' (1967) with translations in French, German, Italian, and Japanese, ''Concepts of Nuclear Physics'' (1970) with translation in Arabic, ''Nuclear Science and Society'' (1974), ''Before It's Too Late: A Scientist's Case for Nuclear Power'' (1983), and ''The Nuclear Energy Option, Alternative for the Nineties'', (1990) in translation for Japanese and Spanish. He has written about 135 research papers on basic nuclear physics, about 300 scientific papers on energy and environment (e.g. nuclear power, health effects of
radiation In physics, radiation is the emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or particles through space or through a material medium. This includes: * ''electromagnetic radiation'', such as radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visi ...
, radioactive waste, risks in our society), and about 80 articles in popular magazines such as ''
Physics and Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...
'', '' National Review'', '' Oui'', '' Science Digest'', '' Catholic Digest'', and '' Scientific American''. He has authored scientific studies and editorial contributions on a vast array of subjects in nuclear industry trade journals such as ''
Public Utilities Fortnightly In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlic ...
'', '' Reviews of Modern Physics'', ''
Nuclear Engineering International Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the nucleus of the atom: *Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics *Nuclear space *Nuclear ...
'', and '' American Journal of Physics''.


Awards and honors

Dr. Cohen received in 1981 the Tom W. Bonner Prize in Nuclear Physics from the
American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...
. He was also elected Chairman of the
American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...
, Division of Nuclear Physics (1974–75). Dr. Cohen received the 1992 Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award from the Health Physics Society, and the 1996
Walter H. Zinn Award Walter Henry Zinn (December 10, 1906 – February 14, 2000) was an American nuclear physicist who was the first director of the Argonne National Laboratory from 1946 to 1956. He worked at the Manhattan Project's Metallurgical Laboratory during ...
from the American Nuclear Society (ANS), for his "notable and sustained contribution to the nuclear power industry that has not been widely recognized." The ANS also granted Cohen its 1985 "Public Information Award", and its 1996 "Special Award", for his "meritorious contributions in research" on ''Linear Dose Model ersusOther Models for Critical Dose Values''. He was elected to member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2003, "for fundamental contributions to our understanding of low-level radiation" and Chairman of the American Nuclear Society Division of Environmental Sciences (1980–81).


References


External links


Bernard Cohen
home page. Contains full text o

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paper in which Cohen discusses his challenge to Nader. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, Bernard Jewish American scientists 1924 births 2012 deaths American nuclear physicists University of Pittsburgh faculty Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering Fellows of the American Physical Society 21st-century American Jews