Michael Polanyi Symposium: Connecting Science and the Humanities

Wednesday 5 Oct 2016, 14:00 → 18:05 CET

Lecture Hall C130 (Technische Universität Berlin)

Bretislav Friedrich, Ludger Wöste

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.

Bretislav Friedrich, Michael Polanyi (1891-1976): The life of the mind Bunsenmagazin_5_2016-Frie-Polanyi.pdf

Dudley Herschbach, Michael Polanyi: Patriarch of Chemical Dynamics and Tacit Knowing http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.201610968/full

Gerhard Ertl, Joshua Jortner, John Polanyi (Bretislav Friedrich, Ed.): Tributes to and Reminiscences of Michael Polanyi (1891-1976) Bunsen_Magazin-2017-3-Frie-Ert-Jor-Pol.pdf

Istvan Hargittai: Michael Polanyi—pupils and crossroads—on the 125th anniversary of his birth http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11224-016-0816-8

Mary Jo Nye, Michael Polanyi: Science as Personal Knowledge and Social Practice http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.201610716/full

Poster Poster-Michael_Polanyi_Symposium-Def.pdf

Video-recording of the Symposium http://medien.cedis.fu-berlin.de/cedis_medien/projekte/physik/expphy_polanyi_symp_01.mp4 http://medien.cedis.fu-berlin.de/cedis_medien/projekte/physik/expphy_polanyi_symp_02.mp4

14:00 → 14:05 Musikalischer Auftakt (Horn-Ensemble der Universität der Künste)

14:05 → 14:10 Welcome

Speakers: Prof. Christian Thomsen (TU Berlin), Prof. Klaus Mühlhahn (FU Berlin), Prof. Sabine Kunst (HU Berlin)

14:10 → 15:00 Michael Polanyi–Patriarch of Chemical Dynamics and Tacit Knowing

Speaker: Dudley Herschbach

15:00 → 15:50 Michael Polanyi–Science as Personal Knowledge and Social Practice

Speaker: Mary Jo Nye

15:50 → 16:20 Coffee Break

16:20 → 17:10 Michael Polanyi–Honorary Martian of Science

Speaker: Istvan Hargittai

17:10 → 18:00 Tributes & Reminiscences (Gerhard Ertl, Joshua Jortner, Peter Toennies, Rudolf Zahradnik, and others)

18:00 → 18:05 Musikalischer Ausklang (Horn-Ensemble der Universität der Künste)