John Polanyi

John Polanyi
Polanyi in 2019
Born
John Charles Polanyi

(1929-01-23) 23 January 1929 (age 95)
NationalityCanadian
Alma materUniversity of Manchester
Known forChemical kinetics
Reaction dynamics
Spouse
Anne Davidson
(m. 1958; died 2013)
Children2
FatherMichael Polanyi
Relatives
Awards
Scientific career
InstitutionsUniversity of Toronto
Websitesites.utoronto.ca/jpolanyi
John Polanyi Collegiate Institute, Toronto

John Charles Polanyi PC CC FRSC OOnt FRS (Hungarian: Polányi János Károly; born 23 January 1929) is a German-born Canadian chemist. He was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research in chemical kinetics.

Polanyi was born into the prominent Hungarian Polányi (Pollacsek) family in Berlin, Germany, prior to emigrating in 1933 to the United Kingdom where he was subsequently educated at the University of Manchester, and did postdoctoral research at the National Research Council in Canada and Princeton University in New Jersey. Polanyi's first academic appointment was at the University of Toronto, and he remains there as of 2019.

In addition to the Nobel Prize, Polanyi has received numerous other awards, including 33 honorary degrees, the Wolf Prize in Chemistry and the Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering. Outside his scientific pursuits, Polanyi is active in public policy discussion, especially concerning science and nuclear weapons. His father, Mihály (Michael), was a noted chemist and philosopher. His uncle, Károly (Karl) was a renowned political economist, best known for his seminal work, The Great Transformation.[2] According to György Marx, he was one of "The Martians", a group of prominent Hungarian scientists who emigrated to the United States in the first half of the 20th century.[3]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference frs was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Polanyi Biography at Nobel e-Museum".
  3. ^ György Marx. "A MARSLAKOK LEGENDAJA". Fizikai Szemle 1997/3. szám (in Hungarian).