POLÁNYI, Mihály
(Michael)
* 12. 3. 1891, Budapest, Hungary
† 22. 2. 1976, Northampton, United Kingdom
chemist
P. was born into a bourgeois family that had its roots in Budapest and in 1914 graduated in medicine, but was never trained for the profession of a doctor. Instead, he dedicated himself to physical-chemical research at the University of Budapest and he also received scholarship in Karlsruhe. When he returned to Budapest, he worked at the Institute of Physics with György →Hevesy. After the first World War, P. moved to Berlin, ending up as a research chemist at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institut for Fiber Chemistry, but was at the invitation of Fritz Haber soon admited in the service at the Institute of Physical Chemistry. Here he successfuly researched areas of adsorption, solid-state physics, crystal chemistry, X-ray diffraction and quantum chemistry. In 1933 he emigrated to England, where he got the professorship at the Institute of Physical Chemistry, Victoria University of Manchester. In this period he devoted himself mainly to reaction kinetics. In the late 1940s he devoted himself mainly to social sciences and he published works on the ethical, philosophical and sociological issues. His book "Personal Knowledge" in which he analized his scientific knowledge in a new way is well known.
