Ronald E. Cohen (born 5 March 1957)Acceptance of the Dana Medal of the Mineralogical Society of America for 2009, American Mineralogist, Volume 95, pages 669–670, 2010
/ref> is an American scientist at the

Carnegie Institution for Science The Carnegie Institution for Science, also known as Carnegie Science and the Carnegie Institution of Washington, is an organization established to fund and perform scientific research in the United States. This institution is headquartered in W ...

's Geophysical Laboratory. He is a theorist who works on understanding materials, ranging from minerals to technological materials like ferroelectrics. Much of his work has centered on materials at extreme conditions, like the high pressures at the center of the Earth, and on

transducer A transducer is a device that Energy transformation, converts energy from one form to another. Usually a transducer converts a signal in one form of energy to a signal in another. Transducers are often employed at the boundaries of automation, M ...

materials, used for

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects o ...

and

medical ultrasound Medical ultrasound includes Medical diagnosis, diagnostic techniques (mainly medical imaging, imaging) using ultrasound, as well as therapeutic ultrasound, therapeutic applications of ultrasound. In diagnosis, it is used to create an image of ...

. He is one of the pioneers for applying of first-principles methods to minerals. In first-principles methods, only the atom types are input, and all properties can be computed using

quantum mechanics Quantum mechanics is the fundamental physical Scientific theory, theory that describes the behavior of matter and of light; its unusual characteristics typically occur at and below the scale of atoms. Reprinted, Addison-Wesley, 1989, It is ...

. He also expanded the application of these methods to ferroelectrics, and continues to clarify the origin of

ferroelectric In physics and materials science, ferroelectricity is a characteristic of certain materials that have a spontaneous electric polarization that can be reversed by the application of an external electric field. All ferroelectrics are also piezoel ...

and relaxor behavior. He was awarded the

Dana Medal The Dana Medal, established in 1998, is awarded by the Mineralogical Society of America and is named in honor of the contributions made by James Dwight Dana (1813–1895) and Edward Salisbury Dana (1849–1935) to the science of mineralogy. It reco ...

by the

Mineralogical Society of America The Mineralogical Society of America (MSA) is a scientific membership organization. MSA was founded in 1919 for the advancement of mineralogy, crystallography, geochemistry, and petrology, and promotion of their uses in other sciences, industry, ...

in 2009, and the Mineralogical Society of America Award in 1994. He is a fellow of the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of ...

(2002), the

American Geophysical Union The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of Earth, Atmospheric science, atmospheric, Oceanography, ocean, Hydrology, hydrologic, Astronomy, space, and Planetary science, planetary scientists and enthusiasts that ...

, and the

. He has also contributed to about 200 scientific papers, and has given about 200 invited talks around the world. He lives in Silver Spring, Maryland with his wife Kathryn. They have three children, Daniel, Jacob, and Rebecca.

References

External links

Ronald E. Cohen's homepage
at th
Carnegie Institution for Science
1957 births Living people American geophysicists Fellows of the American Geophysical Union Fellows of the American Physical Society Fellows of the Mineralogical Society of America {{geoscientist-stub