1986: John Polanyi awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry
• John Charles Polanyi was born on Jan. 23, 1929 in Berlin. He immigrated to Canada during the Second World War.
• Polanyi earned his PhD in chemistry at Manchester University in 1952. He
was later a research associate at Canada's National Research Council and a
postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University. In 1956, Polanyi became a lecturer
at the University of Toronto.
• Polanyi admitted that at first, science
wasn't a natural fit at university. "In the laboratory I found that it was
necessary to follow procedures that had not been fully explained (if, indeed,
the explanations were known) in order to obtain the 'right' result. Out of
curiousity I would vary the method from that given in the laboratory manual,
with the consequence that I routinely got the 'wrong' result. All this was
symptomatic of the fact that I lacked the discipline to learn, or at any rate to
learn with any degree of pleasure, the large number of rules that one must
master before one can play the game of science." Nobel website autobiography,
John Polanyi.
• The Nobel Prize committee commended Polanyi for developing "the method of infrared chemiluminescence, in which the extremely weak infrared emission from a newly formed molecule is measured and analysed. He has used this method to elucidate the detailed energy disposal during chemical reactions."
• Polanyi, Herschenbach and Lee were jointly applauded for developing
reaction dynamics which "has provided a much more detailed understanding of how
chemical reactions take place."
• "We three have known each other for
decades. Now, because of you, we regard one another with a new sense of wonder.
Because of you our wives hesitate for just an instant before summoning us to do
the dishes. Thanks to you the wider community of reaction dynamicists, who share
our interests and have contributed in a vital fashion to the development of this
field, declare themselves proud." - John Polanyi, Nobel banquet in Stockholm,
1986.
• Aside from his scientific achievements, Polanyi is also renowned
for promoting peace and disarmament. He was the founding chair of the Canadian
Pugwash Group - a group of scholars and scientists dedicated to the promotion of
peace. Polanyi also writes and speaks about the link between science and art.
• Polanyi married musician Anne Ferrar Davidson in 1958. They have two
children, Michael and Margaret.
• The Nobel Prize is awarded yearly in the fields of physics, chemistry,
physiology or medicine, literature and peace. The prizes have been awarded
annually since 1901. The prize is named after its founder, Alfred Nobel, the
inventor of dynamite.
• Other Canadians who've won the Nobel Prize in
Chemistry include: William Giauque (1949), Gerhard Herzberg (1971), Henry Taub
(1983), Sidney Altman (1989), Rudolph Marcus (1992) and Michael Smith (1993).
Also on December 10:
• 1949: The
Supreme Court of Canada becomes the country's final legal authority. A federal
law ends appeals to the Judicial Committee of the British Privy council.
•
1954: The 1,280-metre Canso Causeway is completed between mainland Nova Scotia and Cape Breton. It opens
on August 13, 1955.
• 2000: The first gay marriage in
Canada is performed at the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto.
Program: The National
Broadcast Date: Dec. 10, 1986
Guest(s): John Polanyi
Reporter: Larry Stout
Duration: 1:51
Last updated: February 8, 2012
Page consulted on August 21, 2012
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