bio

Stephen Michael Cohen has been drawing for nearly all of his life, starting when his kindergarten teacher told his parents he didn’t like art–and they laughed. (The half-round crayons were too blunt for his artistic endeavors.) Since high school he has often designed program covers for musical concerts, as well as book jackets. At the University of Pennsylvania, he created a daily comic strip, “Buffer’s Solutions,” for the “Daily Pennsylvanian.” He also contributed to and became Art Editor of the Penn humor magazine, “Pennsylvania Punch Bowl.” He was a finalist for the Union of Concerned Scientists’ editorial cartoon competition in 2005. At age 12, he taught himself calligraphy, and practiced by doing all his homework in Italic hand. He has been a professional Judaic calligrapher for over three decades, doing ketubot, invitations, and other art; and is a member of the Philadelphia Calligraphers’ Society. His calligraphic art has been displayed in multiple venues around Central New Jersey.

His books include “O Mg! How Chemistry Came to Be” (World Scientific Press, 2022), a graphic novel on the history of chemistry, and “America’s Scientific Treasures,” 2nd ed. (Oxford University Press, 2020), as well as “What’s in a Name? A Young Person’s Jewish Genealogy Workbook,” 2nd edition, soon to be out from JewishGen Press.

He is the Treasurer of the Midwest Jewish Studies Association, with a variety of published papers and presentations, a published composer of Jewish choral music, and the family genealogist for over five decades (with over 4700 people in his family back to the late 1700s). He is a Board member of the Royal Society of Chemistry–US Section, and is the host of the popular podcast “The History of Chemistry,” now ranked in the top 5% of world-wide podcast by Listen Notes. He speaks only Yiddish to his (now adult) children.

Contact: drstevecohen@earthlink.net