Michael Polanyi Symposium: Connecting Science and the Humanities

Prominent among the luminaries who set up their laboratory in Weimar Berlin was the polymath Michael Polanyi (1891-1976), who would this year be 125 years old. In 1920 he received a research position in Reginald Herzog's Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Fiber Chemistry and in 1923 switched to Fritz Haber's Institute for Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry as Head of the Department of Chemical Kinetics. He was also connected to the area universities, through his Habilitation at the Berlin University (today Humboldt Universität) and his teaching as Extraordinarius at the forerunner of Berlin’s Technische Universität. A distinguished physical chemist at the time of his forced emigration from Germany in 1933, Polanyi settled in England and became a key figure in the philosophy and sociology of science. The Michael Polanyi Symposium will celebrate his legacy in both science and the humanities.