Mildred Cohn - Biography

Mildred Cohn (July 12, 1913 – October 12, 2009) was an American biochemist. She graduated from high school at 14 and went on to receive her Bachelor's from Hunter College in 1931, her master's in 1932 from Columbia University, and her PhD in physical chemistry in 1938 from Columbia. Cohn joined the staff of the University of Pennsylvania in 1960.

Cohn wrote 160 papers, focusing on the topics of isotopes and ATP. She won the Garvan-Olin Medal the National Medal of Science in 1982. She was awarded the Elliott Cresson Medal in 1975.

During her career, Cohn achieved several gender firsts: She was the first woman to be appointed to the editorial board of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, the first woman to become president of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and the first female career investigator for the American Heart Association. In 2009, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York.

Outside science, Cohn was married to physicist Henry Primakoff from 1946 until his death in 1983.

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