Scientific pluralism
| Michael Polanyi | |
|---|---|
In England, 1933
|
|
| Born |
Polányi Mihály 11 March 1891 Budapest, Austria-Hungary |
| Died | 22 February 1976 (aged 84) Northampton, England |
| Education | Graduated in medicine, 1913; PhD in physical chemistry, 1919 |
| Alma mater |
Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest Technische Hochschule, Karlsruhe University of Budapest |
| Occupation | Professor of physical chemistry, professor of social studies |
| Employer |
Kaiser Wilhelm Institute University of Manchester Merton College, Oxford |
| Known for | Contributions to the theory of knowledge and philosophy of science (identification of the "structure of tacit knowing"), contributions to physical science (potential adsorption theory) |
| Spouse(s) | Magda Elizabeth Kemeny |
| Children | John Charles Polanyi, George Polanyi |
| Parent(s) | Michael and Cecilia Pollacsek |
| Relatives | Karl Polanyi (brother); Kari Polanyi-Levitt (niece) |
Michael Polanyi, FRS (11 March 1891 – 22 February 1976) was a Hungarian-British polymath, who made important theoretical contributions to physical chemistry, economics, and philosophy. He argued that positivism supplies a false account of knowing, which if taken seriously undermines our highest achievements as human beings.
His wide-ranging research in physical science included chemical kinetics, x-ray diffraction, and adsorption of gases. He pioneered the theory of fibre diffraction analysis in 1921, and the dislocation theory of plastic deformation of ductile metals and other materials in 1934. He emigrated to Germany, in 1926 becoming a chemistry professor at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin, and then in 1933 to England, becoming first a chemistry professor, and then a social sciences professor at the University of Manchester. Two of his pupils and his son won Nobel Prizes in Chemistry. In 1944 Polanyi was elected to the Royal Society.
The contributions which Polanyi made to the social sciences, for example his application of the concept of a polycentric spontaneous order to intellectual inquiry, were developed in the context of his opposition to central planning.
Polanyi, born Pollacsek Mihály in Budapest, was the fifth child of Mihály and Cecília Pollacsek (née Cecília Wohl), secular Jews from Ungvár (then in Hungary but now in Ukraine) and Wilno, then Russian Empire, respectively. His father's family were entrepreneurs, while his mother's father was the chief rabbi of Wilno (now Vilnius). The family moved to Budapest and Magyarized their surname to Polányi. His father built much of the Hungarian railway system, but lost most of his fortune in 1899 when bad weather caused a railway building project to go over budget. He died in 1905. Cecília Polányi established a salon that was well known among Budapest's intellectuals, and which continued until her death in 1939. His older brother was Karl Polanyi, the political economist and anthropologist, and his niece was Eva Zeisel, a world-renowned ceramist.
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