Nobel Prize, viii

In the absence of any external influence such as a catalyst which is biased in favor of one configuration over the other, we might expect structures [VIII] and [IX] to occur at random with equal probability as if the configuration at each successive addition were determined by the toss of a coin. Such, indeed, is the ordinary case. However, in the early 1950s, stereospecific catalysts were discovered Ziegler and Natta received the Nobel Prize for this discovery in 1963. 

From the many readings available about Polanyi s life and scientific career two are recommended herein one is written by Eugen P. Wigner (1902-1995, Nobel Prize 1963) who was Polanyi s student in Berlin in the 1920s and lifelong friend [vi], and the other by his son John C. Polanyi (1929-, Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1986) who continued the family tradition regarding the study of reaction dynamics [vii]. Additional information on Polanyi can be found on the Polanyi Society home-page [viii]. See also Polanyi s rule. 

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