Michael Polanyi
From ResearchID.org
Michael Polanyi (March 11th, 1891 - February 22nd, 1976) was a Hungarian/British polymath whose thought and work extended across physical chemistry, economics, and philosophy.
Michael was born into a Jewish family in Budapest. His older brother Karl become a famous economist. Their father was an engineer and entrepreneur whose volatile fortunes in railway speculation motivated Polanyi to seek financial stability through a career in medicine. He graduated in 1913, and shortly afterwards served as a physician in the Austro-Hungarian army during World War I, but was hospitalised, and during his convalescence wrote what became a doctorate in physical chemistry from the University of Budapest in 1917.
In 1920, he emigrated to Germany to work as a chemist at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Fiber Chemistry in Berlin. There, he married Magda Elizabeth in a Roman Catholic ceremony. In 1929, Magda gave birth to a son John, who went on to win a Nobel Prize in chemistry. With the coming to power in 1933 of the Nazi party Polanyi took up a position as Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Manchester. In a significant shift, following his growing contribution to the literature of social science and philosophy, Michael Polanyi then became Professor of Social Sciences at Manchester (1948-58).
Bibliography
- Polanyi, M (1946) Science, Faith, and Society ISBN 0226672905
- Polanyi, M (1951) The Logic of Liberty ISBN 0226672964
- Polanyi, M (1964) Personal Knowledge: Towards a Post-Critical Philosophy ISBN 0226672883
- Polanyi, M (1967) The Tacit Dimension
- Polanyi, M & Prosch, H (1975) Meaning ISBN 0226672948
