Edwin Joseph Cohn

A graduate of Phillips Academy, Andover [1911], and the University of Chicago [1914, PhD 1917], he made important advances in the physical chemistry of proteins, and was responsible for the blood fractionation project that saved thousands of lives in World War II.On Cohn's office blackboard was inscribed a quotation from Goethe's Faust: "Das Blut ist ein ganz besonderer Saft."The success of the blood fractionation project was due in great part to his management, and he can be considered responsible for saving thousands of lives.More generally, Cohn drove himself relentlessly and ignored his doctors' advice to cut back on working because of his high blood pressure (which finally killed him).[9] Cohn died on October 1, 1953, in Boston, of a stroke brought on by hypertension caused by an undiagnosed pheochromocytoma.
New York CityBostonPhillips Academy, AndoverUniversity of Chicagoblood fractionationMedal for MeritbiochemistryHarvard Medical SchoolFrederic M. Richardsphysical chemistryproteinspernicious anemiaWorld War IIserum albuminblood plasmaosmotic pressureblood vesselsTransfusionsevery componentdonatedGoethesolubility constantactivityGeorge ScatchardJohn EdsallInstituto Superior TécnicoLisbonAmerican Academy of Arts and SciencesNational Academy of SciencesAmerican Philosophical SocietyhypertensionpheochromocytomaWayback MachineZeitschrift für Physikalische ChemieJohn Tileston Edsall