Martyn Poliakoff

website = doctoral_students = Andrew Ian Cooper known_for = Periodic Videos module =

Sir Martyn Poliakoff (born 16 December 1947) The core subjects of his academic work are supercritical fluids, infrared spectroscopy and lasers. He is a research professor in chemistry at the University of Nottingham. As well as carrying out research at the University of Nottingham, he is a lecturer, teaching a number of modules including green chemistry.

Early life and education Poliakoff was born to a British-Jewish mother, Ina , and a Russian-Jewish father, Alexander Poliakoff. He has a younger brother, the screenwriter and director Stephen Poliakoff. His paternal grandfather, Joseph Poliakoff, was a prolific inventor of electrical devices who experienced the communist revolution in Russia first-hand, and emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1924.

Poliakoff was educated at Westminster School. Poliakoff received a PhD in chemistry from Cambridge in 1973 for research supervised by J.J. Turner.

Career and research In 1972, Poliakoff moved to Newcastle University and in 1979 was appointed a lecturer at the University of Nottingham,

Poliakoff is a global leader in the field of green chemistry with a specific interest in the applications of supercritical fluids. These highly compressed gases possess properties of gases and liquids that permit interesting chemical reactions without the need for organic solvents, which endanger both health and the environment. a popular science project produced by Brady Haran, originally intended to familiarise the public with all 118 elements of the periodic table. The project has since expanded to cover molecules; there are also several special videos about other chemical topics. He hit the news for calculating that the FIFA World Cup Trophy could not have been made from solid gold as it would be too heavy to raise aloft. Poliakoff showed some videos at IUPAC's elements inauguration in the Central Club of Scientists of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow.

In 2019 he collaborated with his daughter Ellen, among others, to produce an experimental version of the periodic table which was turned upside down, to see if that helped young learners get to grips with the underlying mechanisms.

Honours and awards Poliakoff was awarded the Meldola Medal and Prize from the Royal Society of Chemistry in 1976. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2002, and Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers (FIChemE) in 2004. He served on the IChemE Council between 2009 and 2013. and is a member of the Advisory Council for the Campaign for Science and Engineering since 2008. and vice-president of the Royal Society in November 2011, positions which are held for a fixed five-year period. In 2011, he won the Nyholm Prize for Education.

Poliakoff also received an Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University in 2011.

In 2012, Poliakoff was elected a Fellow of the Academia Europaea and in 2013, an Associate Fellow of TWAS, the World Academy of Science. He was also elected an Honorary Fellow of the Chinese Chemical Society in 2015. In 2016, Poliakoff was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (FAAAS), In 2019, he was awarded the Royal Society of London Michael Faraday Prize for science communication for his work on the Periodic Videos. He was also awarded the 2019 Longstaff Prize for his "outstanding contributions to green chemistry and for participating centrally in the creation of the Periodic Table Videos". At the end of 2023, Poliakoff was elected (in the division of chemistry) a Foreign Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Poliakoff was awarded the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) David and Betty Hamburg Award for Science Diplomacy in 2026.

A tram in Nottingham's tram network was named after him in 2021.

Personal life Poliakoff has a daughter, Ellen Poliakoff, a psychology lecturer at the University of Manchester; and a son, Simon Poliakoff, a physics teacher at The Priory School, Hitchin. Martyn Poliakoff produced a web eulogy of close friend Tony Judt in 2010.