CHEMIST

John Polanyi

1929 - Today

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John Charles Polanyi (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 his family emigrating in 1933 to the United Kingdom where he was subsequently educated at the University of Manchester, achieving his Ph.D in 1952, and did postdoctoral research at the National Research Council in Canada (1952-1954) and Princeton University in New Jersey (1954-1956). Polanyi's first academic appointment was at the University of Toronto in 1956, and he remains there as of 2025 as Professor Emeritus/Emerita. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. John Polanyi is the 261st most popular chemist (up from 288th in 2019), the 1,125th most popular biography from Germany (up from 1,566th in 2019) and the 43rd most popular German Chemist.

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Among CHEMISTS

Among chemists, John Polanyi ranks 261 out of 602. Before him are Carolyn R. Bertozzi, Mária Telkes, Ida Noddack, Alfred G. Gilman, Vladimir Markovnikov, and Stephanie Kwolek. After him are Fritz Strassmann, Ignacy Łukasiewicz, Martin Rodbell, Dudley R. Herschbach, Edwin G. Krebs, and Emil Erlenmeyer.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1929, John Polanyi ranks 94. Before him are Francis Gary Powers, Osamu Yamaji, Ralf Dahrendorf, Claes Oldenburg, George Stinney, and Len Deighton. After him are Gordon Moore, Sam Nujoma, Alasdair MacIntyre, Georgios Roubanis, Hans Magnus Enzensberger, and Pierre Brice.

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In Germany

Among people born in Germany, John Polanyi ranks 1,125 out of 7,253. Before him are Peter Sloterdijk (1947), Ernst Schröder (1841), Friedrich Ludwig Jahn (1778), Michael Wolgemut (1434), Gustav Noske (1868), and Heinrich Barth (1821). After him are Tannhäuser (1205), Heinrich von Vietinghoff (1887), Emil Maurice (1897), Carl, 3rd Prince of Leiningen (1804), Johann Jakob Froberger (1616), and Gershom Scholem (1897).

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Among CHEMISTS In Germany

Among chemists born in Germany, John Polanyi ranks 43. Before him are Joachim Frank (1940), Hartmut Michel (1948), August Wilhelm von Hofmann (1818), Hennig Brand (1630), Friedrich Sertürner (1783), and Henri Victor Regnault (1810). After him are Fritz Strassmann (1902), Emil Erlenmeyer (1825), Franz Karl Achard (1753), Joachim Sauer (1949), Heinrich Gustav Magnus (1802), and Andreas Sigismund Marggraf (1709).

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