Palló Gábor
Institute of Philosophical Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary.
Ambix. 2010 Jul;57(2):216-30. doi: 10.1179/174582310X12719003720241.
In the early history of surface chemistry, in the 1920s, the nature of gas adsorption was a pivotal subject. A theory created by Michael Polanyi in the peripheral Hungary contradicted the received view originating from the American Irving Langmuir. When working out his theory, Polanyi had not even heard of Langmuir's rival description. However, Polanyi emigrated from Hungary to Germany, the centre of his field, and tried to defend his adsorption theory in the circle of the leading experts, including Einstein and Fritz Haber. This controversy seemed vital to his survival as a scientist and as an immigrant. The aim of this article is to recapitulate this controversy, with its sad undercurrents, the role of local science, methods of argumentation, and the work of a central scientific community.
在20世纪20年代表面化学的早期历史中，气体吸附的本质是一个关键主题。由匈牙利边缘地区的迈克尔·波兰尼提出的一种理论与源自美国的欧文·朗缪尔的传统观点相矛盾。在提出自己的理论时，波兰尼甚至还没有听说过朗缪尔的对立描述。然而，波兰尼从匈牙利移民到了该领域的中心德国，并试图在包括爱因斯坦和弗里茨·哈伯在内的顶尖专家圈子里捍卫自己的吸附理论。这场争论对他作为一名科学家和移民的生存似乎至关重要。本文的目的是回顾这场争论，包括其令人悲伤的暗流、地方科学的作用、论证方法以及一个核心科学团体的工作。
