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Dr. Polanyi celebrates launch of prize with NSERC

At the University of Toronto on October 17, 2005, NSERC announced a new $250,000 research prize named after Canadian Nobel Prize Winner John C. Polanyi. Although Dr. Polanyi’s greatest research accomplishments were in chemistry, the NSERC John C. Polanyi Award will recognize a recent outstanding advance made by a Canadian researcher or team of researchers in any field of the natural sciences or engineering.

Dr. Polanyi, still an active faculty member at the university, attended the event alongside Professor John Challis, University of Toronto’s Vice-President, Research, and Associate Provost.

Representing NSERC, Dr. Joanne Keselman noted that “John Polanyi has for decades been one of the most outstanding researchers in Canada, an individual whose name is synonymous with the excellence of Canadian science, both at home and abroad.” Addressing Dr. Polanyi, Dr. Keselman continued, “We, at NSERC, are extremely proud of our association with and support of your research over the years.”

In expressing his gratitude for the honour, Dr. Polanyi observed, “This new award is distinguished by the fact that it avoids attempting to manage the process of discovery. Where the green shoots of important new science emerge, NSERC, through this new award, will fertilize them. …Nowhere in the country do we have a greater concentration of experience in cultivating the garden of science than in NSERC.”

Dr. Polanyi won the Nobel Prize in 1986 for ground-breaking work in documenting the energy states and the movements of molecules during the moment of reaction. His discoveries dramatically advanced understanding of the physics of chemical reactions and led to the development of powerful new lasers. In recent years, he has been involved in landmark research in nanotechnology.

The first competition for the NSERC John C. Polanyi Award begins immediately, with a closing date of March 1, 2006.