, education =

Hunter College High School Hunter College High School is a public academic magnet secondary school located in the Carnegie Hill section of the Upper East Side of Manhattan. It is administered and funded by Hunter College of the City University of New York (CUNY) and no t ...

, alma_mater = {{plainlist, *

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

( AB) *

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

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PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

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Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

(

) , known_for = , awards = , spouse = , children = Adam Ezra Cohen (born 1979) is a Professor of Chemistry, Chemical Biology, and Physics at

. He has received the

Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers The Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) is the highest honor bestowed by the United States federal government on outstanding scientists and engineers in the early stages of their independent research careers. T ...

{{Cite web , url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/administration/eop/ostp/pressroom/11052010 , title=President Honors Outstanding Early-Career Scientists , access-date=2011-05-03 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170128053633/https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/administration/eop/ostp/pressroom/11052010 , archive-date=2017-01-28 , via=

National Archives National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention. Conceptual development From the Middle Ages i ...

, work=

Office of Science and Technology Policy The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is a department of the United States government, part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, Executive Office of the President (EOP), established by United States Congres ...

, url-status=live and been selected by

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

Technology Review ''MIT Technology Review'' is a bimonthly magazine wholly owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It was founded in 1899 as ''The Technology Review'', and was re-launched without "''The''" in its name on April 23, 1998, under then pu ...

''to the

TR35 The Innovators Under 35 is a peer-reviewed annual award and listicle published by ''MIT Technology Review'' magazine, naming the world's top 35 innovators under the age of 35. at '' Technology Review'' with lists of winners at technologyreview.com ...

list of the world's top innovators under 35.{{cite news, url=http://www.technologyreview.com/TR35/Profile.aspx?TRID=608, title=2007 YOUNG INNOVATORS UNDER 35, Adam Cohen, 28. Harvard University, Making molecules motionless, date=October 3, 2009, work=Technology Review, publisher=MIT, access-date=May 3, 2011, archive-date=April 16, 2011, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110416115853/https://www.technologyreview.com/TR35/Profile.aspx?TRID=608, url-status=live

Education and academic career

Education

Cohen was born in 1979 in New York City, N.Y. He is the son of Joel E. Cohen, Abby Rockefeller Mauze Professor of Populations at

Rockefeller University The Rockefeller University is a Private university, private Medical research, biomedical Research university, research and graduate-only university in New York City, New York. It focuses primarily on the biological and medical sciences and pro ...

in New York. He attended

Hunter College Elementary School Hunter College Elementary School is an elementary school on Manhattan's Upper East Side for select students who reside in New York City. It is administered by Hunter College, a senior college of the City University of New York or CUNY. History H ...

and

, a gifted magnet school in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

.{{cite web, url=http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/cohen.htm, title=Lemelson-MIT Program, website=web.mit.edu{{dead link, date=June 2020, bot=medic{{cbignore, bot=medic He graduated

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

and summa cum laude from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

with an A.B. in chemistry and physics. He received a Ph.D. in

theoretical physics Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain, and predict List of natural phenomena, natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental p ...

from

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, where he was a

Marshall Scholar The Marshall Scholarship is a postgraduate scholarship for "intellectually distinguished young Americans ndtheir country's future leaders" to study at any university in the United Kingdom. It is considered among the most prestigious scholarshi ...

, in 2003, and a Ph.D. in

experimental physics Experimental physics is the category of disciplines and sub-disciplines in the field of physics that are concerned with the observation of physical phenomena and experiments. Methods vary from discipline to discipline, from simple experiments and o ...

from Stanford in 2006 with W.E. Moerner. Cohen completed a postdoctoral fellowship in chemistry at

in 2007.

Research

Cohen's research combines building physical tools to probe biological molecules, using nanofabrication, lasers, microfluidics, electronics and biochemistry to generate data. His current research includes single-molecule spectroscopy of microbial

rhodopsin Rhodopsin, also known as visual purple, is a protein encoded by the ''RHO'' gene and a G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR). It is a light-sensitive receptor protein that triggers visual phototransduction in rod cells. Rhodopsin mediates dim ...

s, the motion of bacteria in mucus, and new magneto-optical and chiroptical effects in organic molecules.

Inventions

In fifth grade, Cohen invented an "alarm" clock that woke him by playing a prerecorded message. In high school, Cohen created an eye-tracking apparatus for neuroscience experiments to benefit the disabled, an electrochemical hard disk drive, and a device that applies physics to allow his eye movements to maneuver his computer cursor. He also invented and built a nanoscale patterning technique using an electrochemical

scanning tunneling microscope A scanning tunneling microscope (STM) is a type of scanning probe microscope used for imaging surfaces at the atomic level. Its development in 1981 earned its inventors, Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer, then at IBM Zürich, the Nobel Prize in ...

in his bedroom, which led to winning the

Westinghouse Science Talent Search Westinghouse may refer to: Businesses Current companies *Westinghouse Electric Corporation, the company that manages the Westinghouse brand, with licensees: **Westinghouse Electric Company, providing nuclear power-related services ** Westingho ...

.{{Cite web , url=http://www2.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=%2Fwww%2Fstory%2F73980&EDATE , title=Student Inventor from New York City Wins $40,000 Scholarship In 56th Westinghouse Science Talent Search , access-date=2018-10-02 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120509230745/http://www2.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=%2Fwww%2Fstory%2F73980&EDATE , archive-date=2012-05-09 , url-status=dead His success in the Westinghouse competition led then-mayor of New York City,

Rudy Giuliani Rudolph William Louis Giuliani ( , ; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and Disbarment, disbarred lawyer who served as the 107th mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney ...

, to declare March 12, 1997 "Adam Ezra Cohen Day". For his dissertation at Stanford, Cohen invented the Anti-Brownian Electrokinetic trap, known as the ABEL trap, a machine capable of trapping and manipulating individual biomolecules in solution.

Awards

In high school, Cohen won the

, now

Intel Science Talent Search The Regeneron Science Talent Search, known for its first 57 years as the Westinghouse Science Talent Search, and then as the Intel Science Talent Search (Intel STS) from 1998 through 2016, is a research-based science fair, science competition in ...

, for an invention that involved building a scanning tunneling microscope in his bedroom. He was also inducted into the National Gallery for America’s Young Inventors for the same invention in 1998. In 2007, he was named to the

as one of the top 35 innovators in the world under the age of 35. In 2012, ''Popular Science'' named Cohen one of the "Brilliant 10: the 10 most promising young scientists working today". In 2010 he won the

under the

Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, ...

. and a

NIH Director's New Innovator Award National Institutes of Health Director's New Innovator Award is a research initiative first announced in 2007 designed to supports exceptionally creative, early-career investigators who propose innovative, high-impact projects. The focus is specif ...

. In 2014, he won the inaugural national Blavatnik National Award for Young Scientists, awarded by the Blavatnik Family Foundation and the

New York Academy of Sciences The New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS), originally founded as the Lyceum of Natural History in January 1817, is a nonprofit professional society based in New York City, with more than 20,000 members from 100 countries. It is the fourth-oldes ...

to "celebrate America’s most innovative and promising faculty-rank scientists and engineers".

Liberia

Cohen and fellow scientist Benjamin Rapoport have visited Liberia working on science education. On their first trip in June 2009, the two toured the nation, while in 2010 they conducted an intensive training program at the University of Liberia that combined science basics, classroom teaching, laboratory techniques, and independent research.{{cite news, url=http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2010/08/basic-science/, title=Basic science Harvard and MIT scientists bolster teaching in war-ravaged Liberia, date=August 3, 2010, work=Harvard Gazette, publisher=Harvard, access-date=May 3, 2011, archive-date=October 5, 2010, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101005083340/http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2010/08/basic-science/, url-status=live

References

{{Reflist

External links

Adam Cohen CV
{{authority control {{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, Adam Ezra 1979 births 21st-century American chemists Harvard College alumni Stanford University alumni Alumni of the University of Cambridge Hunter College High School alumni Harvard University faculty Living people Howard Hughes Medical Investigators Marshall Scholars Scientists from New York (state)