Abstract: Michael Polanyi was born in Budapest on March 11, 1891 to Mihály Pollacsek and Cecile Wohl, the fifth of their six children. This chapter describes Polanyi's family and cultural heritage, his education at the Minta Gymnasium ("Model School"), his studies in medicine at the University of Budapest, and his first publications on colloid chemistry. From his youth, Polanyi possessed the same breadth of interest from the physical sciences to the humanities that he exhibited later in life.

Keywords: Mihály Pollacsek, Cecile Wohl, Minta Gymnasium, Budapest, medicine, colloid chemistry,