Melvin J. Cohen
Yale University
September 28, 1928 - February 22, 1998
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Scientific Discipline: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience Membership Type:
Member
(elected 1975)
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Neurobiologist Melvin J. Cohen’s research revolutionized our understanding of the organization of the central and peripheral nervous systems. He focused primarily on the design and behavioral role of sensory systems in lampreys and crustaceans, especially those systems involved in proprioception (a sense of the relative location and strength of adjacent body parts during movement). He published the first complete descriptions of receptor function in statocysts (responsible for maintaining balance in aquatic invertebrates) and the sensory organs that measure joint angles in crustaceans. Cohen later studied neuronal specificity, resulting in revelations on the constancy of identified neurons and their processes and on the affinity of said neurons with innervated structures during regeneration. After noting cytological changes in response to nerve section within the neurons of insects, he constructed detailed maps of the positions of cells that sent axons to various points in the peripheral nervous system. Cohen also created a method for the injection of cobalt ions into single nerve cells in situ so that their processes could be monitored and detected by electron microscopy.
Cohen attended the University of California, Los Angeles where he received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in zoology in 1949, 1952, and 1954, respectively. He was an instructor for the biological laboratories at Harvard University until 1957 when he left to accept a job as an assistant professor of biology at the University of Oregon. He remained at the university, rising to the positions of associate professor in 1961 and full professor in 1966. Three years later, Cohen became a professor of biology at Yale University. He was promoted to the Director of Undergraduate Studies for the university’s Department of Biology in 1986, and he held the title until his retirement in 1992. He was a member of the American Society of Zoologists, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Society of Neuroscience, and the Society of General Physiologists where he served as president from 1976 to 1977.
