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National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

Robert Cohen

ChemistOak Ridge, TN

Los Alamos, NMMarshall Islands

Robert Cohen was an American chemist.

Cohen was born in 1923 in Rochester, NY. He received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering in 1944 and an M.S. in Physics in 1947 from the University of Michigan.

In 1944, Cohen entered the U.S. Army and was recruited for the Special Engineer Detachment to work on the Manhattan Project. For his work, Cohen received the Distinguished Service Unit Award in 1945. He also participated in Operation Crossroads at Bikini Atoll in 1946.

His nephew, Stephen Hubbard, recalled one story from Cohen’s time on the Manhattan Project:  “Rob was quite the prankster.  Every office had a safe in it where you were supposed to lock your secret papers every night.  So, one night he and some friends went into the offices and, using the formula U-2-38, they were able to open about 1/3 of the safes in the facility and switched the papers around.  Because no one was supposed to talk to anyone else, they would have trouble figuring out what had happened or fixing it.”

Cohen died on October 17, 2007 in Canton, Ohio.

Robert Cohen’s Timeline
1923 Sep 23rd Born in Rochester, NY.

19441946 Served in the Special Engineer Detachment and worked on the Manhattan Project.

1947 Received an M.S. in physics from the University of Michigan.

2007 Oct 17th Died in Canton, OH.

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