
John C. Polanyi
Wolf Prize Laureate in Chemistry 1982

The Prize Committee in Chemistry for 1982 has reached the unanimous decision to recommend that the Wolf Prize be awarded to two distinguished chemists for their far-reaching contributions to science for the benefit of mankind.
John C. Polanyi
University of Toronto
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
“for his studies of chemical reactions in unprecedented detail through development of the infrared chemiluminescence technique, and for envisaging the principles underlying the chemical laser.”
Professor John Charles Polanyi has made outstanding contributions to modern chemical dynamics. In 1959 he developed the field of infrared chemiluminescence. Using this technique he was able to measure, for the first time, the distribution of individual quantum states resulting from an elementary chemical reaction. In the early sixties he predicted the infrared chemical laser. He then proceeded to develop the theory of energy disposal and of energy requirements in chemical reactions. He succeeded in achieving direct spectroscopic detection of transition states. Through these contributions he has been a prime innovator in shaping the field of chemical dynamics, as we now know it.
