University of Waterloo
News Bureau



-- For immediate release


Nobel prize winner John Polanyi delivers Hagey lecture at UW

     WATERLOO, Ont. -- Nobel Prize winner John Polanyi will
deliver the University of Waterloo's Hagey Lecture Jan. 18,
marking the 25th anniversary of the series named after the
university's founding president, Gerry Hagey.

     An advocate of the importance of basic research,
Polanyi will talk on "Research in Jeopardy: Some Thoughts
Concerning Science Policy," focusing on the status of
Canada's scientific research and the role of the government
in maintaining the high standards of Canadian science.

     The Wednesday night lecture begins at 8 p.m. in the
Humanities Theatre. Free tickets are available at the
Humanities Theatre box office and the UW Faculty
Association's office in the Mathematics and Computer
building, Room 4004.

     Polanyi, a chemistry professor at the University of
Toronto, was named co-recipient of the 1986 Nobel Prize in
Chemistry for his research in reaction dynamics, work that
led to the creation of the chemical laser.

     In recognition of his contributions to science, the $2-
million John C. Polanyi Chair in Chemistry was set up in his
honor at U of T last July 1. Polanyi, 65, is the first
holder of the chair.

     Also in his honor, the Ontario government has
established the John Charles Polanyi Prizes, awarded to
outstanding young scholars in the Nobel Prize fields of
chemistry, literature, physics, physiology and medicine, and
economics.

     Polanyi, who received a UW honorary degree in 1970, has
collaborated with several Waterloo professors through his
participation in the federally funded Network of Centres of
Excellence in Molecular and Interfacial Dynamics. Recently,
he has criticized a federal move to chop funding for the
centre, established in 1988.

     His current work in physical chemistry, which continues
to receive international praise, uses laser light to
initiate chemical reactions among molecules aligned on
crystalline surfaces.

     While at UW on Jan. 17, Polanyi will give a lecture
about his own scientific research for graduate and
undergraduate students entitled: "The Molecular Dance in
Chemical Reaction."

                           - 30 -

Contacts: Vera Golini, chair, Hagey Lecture committee, (519)
884-8110, ext. 217;
John Hepburn, Hagey Lecture committee, 888-4065.
From John Morris, UW News Bureau, (519) 888-4567, ext. 6047
Release no. 188 -- December 22, 1994