Ernst Julius Cohen

ForMemRS Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathematic ...

(7 March 1869 – 6 March 1944) was a Dutch

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

ish

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 t ...

known for his work on the

allotropy Allotropy or allotropism () is the property of some chemical elements to exist in two or more different forms, in the same physical state, known as allotropes of the elements. Allotropes are different structural modifications of an element: the ...

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

s. Cohen studied chemistry under

Svante Arrhenius Svante August Arrhenius ( , ; 19 February 1859 – 2 October 1927) was a Swedish scientist. Originally a physicist, but often referred to as a chemist, Arrhenius was one of the founders of the science of physical chemistry. He received the Nob ...

in Stockholm,

Henri Moissan Ferdinand Frédéric Henri Moissan (28 September 1852 – 20 February 1907) was a French chemist and pharmacist who won the 1906 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in isolating fluorine from its compounds. Moissan was one of the original mem ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, and Jacobus van't Hoff at

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

. In 1893 he became Van't Hoff's assistant and in 1902 he became professor of

Physical Chemistry Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic and microscopic phenomena in chemical systems in terms of the principles, practices, and concepts of physics such as motion, energy, force, time, thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, statistica ...

at the

University of Utrecht Utrecht University (UU; nl, Universiteit Utrecht, formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2018, it had an enrollme ...

, a position which he held until his retirement in 1939. Throughout his life, Cohen studied the

of tin. Cohen's areas of research included polymorphism of both elements and compounds, photographic chemistry, electrochemistry, pizeochemistry, and the history of science. He published more than 400 papers and numerous books. In 1913 he became member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was elected a Foreign Member of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

in 1926. Following the 29 April 1942 decree that Dutch Jews wear the

yellow badge Yellow badges (or yellow patches), also referred to as Jewish badges (german: Judenstern, lit=Jew's star), are badges that Jews were ordered to wear at various times during the Middle Ages by some caliphates, at various times during the Medieva ...

, he was arrested by Nazi police for non-compliance and forced to resign. According to Margit Szöllösi-Janze, in her book, ''Science in the Third Reich'', Cohen "put great efforts into restoring the relationships of Western European scientists with their German colleagues after the First World War." He was killed on 6 March 1944 in a

gas chamber A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or other animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. Poisonous agents used include hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide. History ...

at Auschwitz concentration camp.

Literary works

* "'' J. H. van 't Hoff, his life and work''", 1912 * "''Impressions of the Land of Benjamin Franklin''", 1928

References

External links

Weintraub, B. (2003). Tin Disease and Ernst Julius Cohen (1869-1944); Chemistry in Israel, Bull. Isr. Chem. Soc., Issue 9, Apr. 2002, p 31-32. 1944 deaths 1869 births 19th-century Dutch chemists Dutch civilians killed in World War II Dutch people who died in Auschwitz concentration camp Foreign Members of the Royal Society Jewish chemists Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Scientists from Amsterdam University of Amsterdam alumni Academic staff of Utrecht University Dutch Jews who died in the Holocaust 20th-century Dutch chemists {{Netherlands-scientist-stub