Author: Michael Polanyi

Michael Polanyi (1891-1976) was a Hungarian medical scientist whose research was mainly done in physical chemistry before he turned into philosophy at the age of 55. He accepted a personal chair in social studies at the university of Manchester in 1948. His lectures were collected in his opus magnum Personal Knowledge, Towards a Post Critical Epistemology in 1958. Although very influential in the background he was never recognised as a "true" philosopher by his contemporaries.