ScienceMakers Toolkit Manual - The History Makers

72
ScienceMakers
Spotlight: Edwin Cooper
Full Name: Edwin Cooper
Born: December 23, 1936
Place: Oakland, TX
Parents: Ruthesther Porche Cooper
Edwin Ellis Cooper
Spouse: Helene Tournaire Cooper
Education: Jack Yates High School - Houston, TX (1953)
Texas Southern University – Houston, TX (B.S. Biology, 1957)
Atlanta University – Atlanta, GA (M.S. Biology, 1959)
Brown University – Providence, RI (Ph.D. Biology, 1963)
Type of Science: Immunobiology
Achievements: Researches invertebrate immune systems and the evolution of
neuroimmune systems
Has taught immunology around the world
Biography
Edwin Cooper graduated cum laude from Texas Southern University in 1957 with his B.S.
degree in biology. After studying at the Marine Biology Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts,
Cooper pursued his M.S. degree in biology from Atlanta University, which he obtained in 1959.
Cooper earned his Ph.D. in biology from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1963.
Upon completing his doctorate, Cooper became an Assistant Professor of Anatomy at the University
of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Medicine in 1964 and attained full professorship
by 1973. Cooper taught immunology around the world, beginning with an exchange program with
the Instituto Politecnico Nacional in Mexico City, Mexico. Cooper received a prestigious Guggenheim
fellowship to the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1970, while maintaining
his position at UCLA. Cooper went on to accept teaching fellowships at many institutions, such as
the University of Complutense in Spain in 1980, the University of Tromso in Norway in 1981, the
University of Reims in France in 1985, and Yamaguchi University in Japan in 1988. From 1989 to
1993, Cooper served as the vice chair for UCLA’s Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology.