Bernard Cohen (physicist)

Bernard Leonard Cohen ( born June 14, 1924 in Pittsburgh, † March 17, 2012 ) was an American nuclear physicist.

Cohen studied at Case Western Reserve University, with a bachelor's degree in 1944 and at the University of Pittsburgh with a Master's degree in 1947. He received his doctorate in 1950 at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. He was since 1958 a professor of physics at the University of Pittsburgh (at times also Adjunct Professor of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and for health hazards due to radiation at the Graduate School of Public Health of the University ). 1965 to 1978 he was director of the Scaife Nuclear Laboratory. In 1994 he retired.

He was an opponent of the linear no- treshold model ( LNT ) for the effect of ionizing radiation in radiation biology (especially in cancer ), after incorporating the effect of arbitrarily small doses (no threshold ) and linearly with the dose increases. He suggested an inverse correlation between radon exposure and lung cancer risk of apartments may find in the U.S. ( according to statistical studies in 1601 in the first study, 1995, and later in 1729 U.S. counties ) and drew the controversial conclusion that the LNT is wrong.

He also appeared publicly for nuclear energy in public debates and his published books in the United States. In 1979 he published accused for better comparability of the nuclear risks, a Catalog of Risks.

In 1981 he was awarded the Tom W. Bonner Prize for nuclear physics. In 2003 he became a Fellow of the National Academy of Engineering. In 1996 he received the Walter Zinn Award from the American Nuclear Society.

Writings

  • Concepts of nuclear physics, McGraw Hill 1971
  • Heart of the atom. The structure of the atomic nucleus, Doubleday, Garden City 1967
  • Nuclear Science and Society, Anchor Press 1974
  • The nuclear energy option: an alternative for the 90s, Plenum Press, 1990, Online
  • Before it's too late: a scientist 's case for nuclear energy, Plenum Press 1983
  • Drew Nelson: Radon: a homeowner 's guide to detection and control, Mount Vernon, Consumers Union 1987
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