He was born in Prague and first studied chemistry, physics and mathematics at the University of Prague and then he went to study at University College in London. At this time he met with such a great mind like Sir William Ramsay. He graduated in 1913; working with Professor Donnan he took up a great interest in electrochemistry.
He received his further degrees in 1918 and 1923. Heyrovsky started his scientific career at the Charles University, Prague where he soon became Professor of Physical Chemistry.
The main field of work of Heyrovsky was polarography.