John Polanyi

John Polanyi was a famous chemist who changed how we see the tiny world of molecules.

He was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1929. His family moved to the United Kingdom in 1933. During World War II, his father sent him to Canada for three years to keep him safe from bombings. He eventually studied at the University of Manchester and earned his PhD in 1952. Later, he became a professor at the University of Toronto. He spent much of his career studying chemical kinetics. This is the study of how chemical reactions happen and how fast they move.

Polanyi wanted to understand the mechanics of a chemical reaction. He studied the transition state, which is the middle part of a reaction. He wanted to know how energy moves during these changes. He helped discover chemiluminescence, which is light given off by a molecule in an excited state.

By using a technique called infrared chemiluminescence, he could measure weak light. This helped him see how energy was used when new molecules formed. This work allowed him to peek into the secret lives of atoms.

His journey into science was not always easy. After high school, he even thought about becoming a poet. He did his graduate studies under Ernest Warhurst at Manchester. After his PhD, he did research at the National Research Council in Ottawa. He also worked as a research associate at Princeton University in New Jersey from 1954 to 1956. In 1956, he began his long career at the University of Toronto. He moved up the ranks quickly to become a full professor by 1962. He later became a University Professor, which is a very special title.

In 1986, Polanyi won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He shared this honor with Dudley Herschbach and Yuan T. Lee. They were recognized for their work on the dynamics of chemical processes.

Polanyi has received many other big awards too. He won the Wolf Prize in Chemistry and the Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal. He has also been given 33 honorary degrees from different places. Even his name is on a postage stamp in Canada. These awards show how much the world values his hard work.

Polanyi did more than just work in a lab. He cared deeply about world peace and public policy. In 1960, he helped found the Pugwash group in Canada. This group works to reduce armed conflict and solve global problems.

He also used new tools to help his science. After meeting other scientists in Sweden, he started using scanning tunneling microscopes. These tools let him see reactions at a very small scale. This is similar to how a microscope helps you see tiny cells. Now, his lab uses these tools to watch single atoms work.