Marvin L. Cohen
Marvin Lou Cohen (born March 3, 1935) is an American–Canadian theoretical physicist. He is a physics professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Cohen is a leading expert in the field of condensed matter physics. He is widely known for his seminal work on the electronic structure of solids. Biography Early life and education Cohen was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. His parents Elmo and Molly (Zaritsky) Cohen were both born in Montreal and his grandparents, all of Jewish descent, emigrated to Canada from the Baltic states and Russia. He, together with his parents and younger brother, Gordon, moved to San Francisco, California, in 1947, where he attended Roosevelt Junior High School and George Washington High School. He was naturalized a U.S. citizen, November 1953. He attended the University of California, Berkeley for an A.B. in physics in 1957 and the University of Chicago with a M.S. in physics in 1958 and a Ph.D. in physics completed 1963, conferred 1964. His Ph.D. thesis advisor was James C. Phillips. Career From 1963 to 1964, Cohen was a member of the technical staff with a postdoctoral position in the theoretical physics group at Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey, where his mentors were primarily Philip W. Anderson and Conyers Herring. He joined the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley in 1964 (assistant professor of physics 1964–66; associate professor 1966–69; professor 1969–1995; university professor 1995–present; professor of the graduate school, 2010–present.) He supervised approximately fifty graduate students and fifty postdoctoral researchers since 1964. He was president of the American Physical Society in 2005. Watch the Cohen Legacy Interview Video. Personal life Marvin Cohen is married to Suzy Locke Cohen who is an Art Advisor. Cohen and his late wife Merrill Leigh Gardner Cohen (deceased 1994) had a son and a daughter. He has three grandchildren. Cohen has played the clarinet since age 13. Research One of the most influential and broadest advances in the study of the physics of materials in the last fifty years is the use of computational tools to explain and predict properties of materials. Marvin Cohen has been honored for his creation of physical models and computational methods and applications that made a large fraction of these advances possible. This approach is often referred to as the “Standard Model” for computing properties of solids, and this work played an important part in the creation and development of the field of computational physics. The successful predictions of new materials and material properties have led to new insights in fundamental science, the production of useful materials, and the creative manipulations of known materials. An essential and standard tool is the availability of accurate electronic band structures for materials ranging from ceramics to metals, and the models and method mentioned above have made the use of electronic band structures and related calculations ubiquitous in pure and applied condensed matter physics. Awards and honors Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, 1965–67. Elected Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS), 1969. Guggenheim Fellow, 1978–79, 1990–91.