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Jack Cohen (biologist)

British biologist and author (1933-2019)

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 12, 2026
Entity authorityQ472872 ↗
Source-derived summary

Jack Cohen (19 September 1933 – 6 May 2019) was a British reproductive biologist also known for his science books and involvement with science fiction.

Life

Cohen was born 19 September 1933 in Norwich, but grew up in Stoke Newington. His father was killed shortly after the end of the Second World War, 1 September 1945. His grandfather was a rabbi and Cohen was an observant Jew in his youth. He continued to attend the synagogue for cultural reasons. He was married three times and had six children.

Academic career

Cohen studied at University College, Hull, where he obtained a BSc (external degree of the University of London) in 1954. He obtained his PhD in zoology at the same institution (by then Hull University) in 1957. He went to the University of Birmingham for post-doctoral work and was appointed lecturer in the Department of Zoology and Comparative physiology in 1959. He worked for a year at Harvard Medical School then returned to Birmingham as a senior lecturer in 1968, a position he held until 1987.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Jack Cohen (biologist)” as british biologist and author (1933-2019). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Jack, Cohen and biologist.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1933, 2019, 1945, 1954—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1933-09-19. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Jack, Cohen and biologist providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Jack Cohen (biologist)”, the useful work is to connect “british biologist and author (1933-2019)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q472872. VIAF identifies the subject as 109765567. The Library of Congress control number is n80156472. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1933, 2019, 1945 and 1954.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Jack Cohen (biologist)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.