Dr. John Polanyi

Few Canadians have established an international reputation in Science while still in their very early thirties. John Charles Polanyi is one of these. Although his research has covered a substantial area of chemical kinetics, his most outstanding work has been in the field of chemiluminescence - the emission of light brought about by a chemical reaction, particularly infrared chemiluminescence, a phenomenon which he was the first to observe. His elegant experimental work and brilliant theoretical approach have given us new and exciting knowledge about the re-distribution of energy in molecular encounters, and will do much to answer the question of how chemical reactions occur.