Bernard Cohen

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This article is about the professor of physics at the University of Pittsburgh. For the former professor of the history of science at Harvard University, see I. Bernard Cohen. For other people by this name see Bernard Cohen (disambiguation).

Professor Bernard Cohen is Professor Emeritus of Physics at the University of Pittsburgh.

When Ralph Nader described plutonium as "the most toxic substance known to mankind", Cohen, then a tenured professor, offered to consume on camera as much plutonium oxide as Nader could consume of caffeine, the stimulant found in coffee and other beverages, which in its pure form has an estimated LD₅₀ of 13-19 grams for an adult human. Professor Cohen maintained that the radioactive substance would pass through his intestinal tract unabsorbed.

Professor Cohen has written at least five books, the most widely known of which is The Nuclear Energy Option (1990). Although published as a hardcover, the full text is also available online.

Other books he has written include Heart of the Atom (1967), Concepts of Nuclear Physics (1970), Nuclear Science and Society (1974), and Before It's Too Late (1983), from which some chapters of The Nuclear Energy Option were based.

[edit] External links

• Bernard Cohen home page. Contains full text of The Nuclear Energy Option (ISBN 0-306-43567-5).
• The Myth of Plutonium Toxicity famous paper in which Cohen discusses his challenge to Nader.