COHEN, MORRIS

COHEN, MORRIS (1911– ), U.S. metallurgist. Born in Chelsea, Mass., Cohen received his doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1936. He then joined the staff at MIT as an assistant professor, becoming an associate professor in 1941. He became professor of physical metallurgy in 1946 and professor of materials science and engineering in 1962. In 1975 he was nominated as Institute Professor at MIT and in 1982 Institute Professor Emeritus. During World War II he was associate director of the Manhattan Project investigating atomic fission. Among his many awards he received the National Medal of Science and Presidential Award in 1977. He wrote Heat Treatment of High Speed Steel (1946) and Titanium in Steel (1949). Cohen's major works were published from 1962 to 1983 in the fields of phase transformations, metallography, heat treatment of metals, diffusion in the solid state, thermodynamics of metal systems, mechanical behavior, tool steels, age-hardening of metals, and dimensional stability. In 1994 he published Societal Issues in Materials Science and Technology, followed in 1995 by Societal Implications of Microalloying Steels. (Gali Rotstein (2nd ed.) COHEN, MORRIS ABRAHAM COHEN, MORRIS ABRAHAM (1887–1970), military adviser. Cohen was born in London and sent by his father to Canada at the age of 16. There he made a living as a ranch-hand, peddler, gambler, and real estate speculator, ultimately drifting to Edmonton, Alberta, where he became a ward boss in the Chinese quarter of the city. He lobbied successfully in 1913 in the provincial legislature for the repeal of the head tax clause in the Chinese Immigration Act, an action that earned him the gratitude of the local Chinese population. In 1908 Cohen had become friendly with Sun Yat-sen, the Chinese nationalist leader then in exile. Cohen joined Sun Yat-sen in China as an aide in 1922, and later was also adviser to his successor, Chiang Kai-shek. Cohen helped organize the Kuomintang Army, which awarded him the rank of general, and from 1926 to 1928 functioned in all but name as the Nationalist war minister. He took part in military campaigns against both Communist rebels and the Japanese, and carried out several secret missions to Europe to purchase arms and organize support for the Nationalist forces. He was probably known as Two-Gun Cohen. In 1941 he was taken prisoner by the Japanese after their capture of Hong Kong and two years later he was repatriated to Canada. After 1949 Cohen visited China several times in an attempt to reconcile the split Chinese factions. He subsequently settled in Manchester, England. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: C. Drage, The Life and Times of General Two-Gun Cohen (1954).