[2] After earning his Bachelor of Arts degree from Temple in 1951, Cotton pursued a Ph.D. thesis under the guidance of Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson[1] at Harvard University where he worked on metallocenes.

[4] Following his graduation from Harvard University, Cotton began teaching at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

He was an early proponent of single crystal X-ray diffraction as a tool for elucidating the extensive chemistry of metal complexes.

Through his studies on clusters, he demonstrated that many exhibited "fluxionality", whereby ligands interchange coordination sites on spectroscopically observable time-scales.

Among college students, Cotton is perhaps best known as the coauthor of the textbook Advanced Inorganic Chemistry, now in its sixth English edition.

[10] In 1995, the Department of Chemistry at Texas A&M along with the local section of the American Chemical Society, inaugurated the annual F.A.

[10] Cotton caused a controversy in his run for President of the American Chemical Society for 1984, wherein he mailed a letter to selected members describing his opponent as "a mediocre industrial chemist".

Cotton Medal, established in 1994, is awarded annually by the Texas A&M Section of the American Chemical Society to recognize accomplishments in research rather than distinction of any other sort, no matter how meritorious.

The recipient receives, in addition to the medal, a bronze replica thereof and a certificate describing the award.