Polanyi was born in 1929, in Berlin, Germany to Michael Polanyi, a chemistry professor, and Magda Elizabeth Kemeny Polanyi, both of Hungarian descent.

In 1946, Polanyi enrolled at Manchester University where his father was a professor. Initially, however, Polanyi was only marginally interested in science. Eventually, however, he developed an interest in chemistry, especially "reaction dynamics," as the study of molecular motions in chemical reactions would eventually be called. He went on to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry in 1952, and then moved to Ottawa to conduct his postdoctoral work at Canada's National Research Council. After two years in Ottawa, Polanyi worked for several months in the laboratory of Gerhard Herzberg, studying vibrational and rotational motions in molecular iodine. In 1954, he accepted a postdoctoral fellowship at Princeton University.

In 1956, Polanyi returned to Canada to take a position as lecturer in the chemistry department at the University of Toronto. He advanced...