Jack Cohen (scientist)
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Jack Cohen, FIBiol (born 19 September 1933) is a British reproductive biologist also known for his popular science books and involvement with science fiction.
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[edit] Academic career
He studied at University College, Hull obtaining a BSc (external degree of the University of London) in 1954.He obtained his PhD in Zoology at the same institution, (by then Hull University) in 1957. He went to the University of Birmingham for post-doctoral work, and was appointed Lecturer in the Department of Zoology and Comparative Physiology in 1959. He worked for a year at Harvard Medical School then returned to Birmingham as a Senior Lecturer in 1968, a position he held until 1987. His former students include Sir Paul Nurse winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize for Medicine, and Dr Arthur Jones, a proponent of intelligent design. In 1974 the University of Birmingham awarded him a DSc for his work.
During 1987 to 1989 he was Senior Embryological Advisor and Manager of Laboratories at the IVF/Infertility Clinic of a London private hospital. During 1995 to 1996 he was Visiting Professor at the Weizmann Institute, Israel. From 1996 to 2000 he was a consultant at Warwick University jointly to the Ecosystems Unit of the Biology Dept and the Mathematics Institute. He is currently an Honorary Professor at the Mathematics Institute of Warwick University and a Visiting Professor at Durham Business School.
He has published in prestigious journals such as Nature and written textbooks such as Living Embryos - an Introduction to the Study of Animal Development (1967) and Reproduction (1977). His theory of sperm redundancy[1] has been important in studies of fertility and treatment of infertility. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Biology.
[edit] Other Activities
Cohen has worked as a consultant for both science fiction television shows and science fiction novelists on how to construct plausible aliens. His collaborators and associated works include Anne McCaffrey for the Dragonriders of Pern; the Legacy of Heorot collaboration of Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle and Steven Barnes; and several works by Terry Pratchett and David Gerrold which he helped design the Chtorr ecology.
He has also collaborated with fellow University of Warwick researcher Ian Stewart to write deep books on epistemology, and the science of the Discworld.
Jack Cohen is a member of the high IQ society Mensa. He was one of the small group of British Mensans who persuaded science fiction author Isaac Asimov to visit the United Kingdom in June 1974.[1]
In 1999 Terry Pratchett made both Jack and Professor Ian Stewart "Honorary Wizards of the Unseen University" at the same ceremony at which the University of Warwick gave Terry Pratchett an honorary degree.
His hobbies, according to profiles in the front of his books, include boomerang-throwing and keeping strange animals.
[edit] Books
- The Science of Discworld, with Ian Stewart and Terry Pratchett
- The Science of Discworld II: The Globe, with Ian Stewart and Terry Pratchett
- The Science of Discworld III: Darwin's Watch, with Ian Stewart and Terry Pratchett
- Figments of Reality, with Ian Stewart (non-fiction)
- The Collapse of Chaos, with Ian Stewart (non-fiction)
- Evolving the Alien: The Science of Extraterrestrial Life, with Ian Stewart. The American and second editions were published as What Does a Martian Look Like? The Science of Extraterrestrial Life
- Wheelers, with Ian Stewart (fiction)
- Heaven (fiction), with Ian Stewart, ISBN 0-446-52983-4, Aspect (May 2004)
- Living Embryos, Pergamon (1967)
- Reproduction, Butterworths (1977)
- Spermatozoa, Antibodies and Infertility (1978) with W. F. Hendry
- Living Embryos (1981) with B. D. Massey
- Animal Reproduction: parents making parents (1984) with B. D. Massey
- The Privileged Ape (1989)
- Stop Working and Start Thinking (2000) with Graham Medley
[edit] Select Quotations
- From What Does a Martian Look Like? The Science of Extraterrestrial Life
- "[S]cience is the best defense against believing what we want to." (Cohen himself actually gives credit for this quote to his co-author, Stewart).
[edit] References
- ^ J. Cohen Nature 215, 862 - 863 (1967)
