In 1907, Kohn enrolled in Breslau University (Universität Breslau, now University of Wrocław), a year before women were officially allowed to matriculate. She became the second woman to enter the physics department.
She stayed at the university's Physics Institute during World War I, teaching and advising doctoral students in spite of her youth, even receiving a medal for this service after the war. She obtained her habilitation in 1930.