Libby, Willard F.:

Libby, Willard F. (1908-1980). Developed radiocarbon dating technique based on carbon-14. Nobel Prize 1960. 

Libby, Willard F., and Frederick Johnson. Radiocarbon Dating 2nd ed. Chicago University of Chicago Press, 1955. Dr. Libby was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1960 for the development of carbon dating methods. This book is Libby s story in his own words. 

We thank Willard F. Libby for advising how to make this dry chemistry quantitative. 

At this point Dr. Willard F. Libby, Professor of Chemistry and Nobel Laureate, stepped in. Dr. Libby had an idea — perhaps not for the first time in his life — but a truly heretical idea among those grounded in basic science. What he envisioned as essential to solve the inherently interdisciplinary problems... 

Previous Proposals. Many investigators have had the idea of dating the cloth by C-14 determination ever since 1955 when Willard F. Libby showed that such analysis is both possible and meaningful. Evidently, these thoughts were not followed up, or the failure of attempts was kept secret,... 

Private communication of John P. Jackson to Willard F. Libby, December 1976. 

The radiocarbon dating method was developed by Willard F. Libby and his coworkers James R. Arnold and Ernest C. Anderson between 1946 and 1949 at the University of Chicago. The now well-known physical model on which the method rests had been conceived by Libby during the period of his tenure with the Manhattan Project at Columbia University during World War II (1,2). The first critical test of the model... 

Willard F. Libby For his method to use carbon-14 for age determination in archaeology, geology, geophysics, and other branches of For his discovery of sugar nucleotides and their role in the biosynthesis of carbohydrates. ... 

In 1955, Willard F. Libby suggested that this fact could be used to estimate the length of time the carbon-14 isotope in a particular specimen has been decaying without replenishment. Using Equation (13.3), we can write... 

The technique of radiocarbon dating, for which the American chemist Willard F. Libby won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1960, is based on measuring the amounts of and "C in materials of biological origin. The accuracy of the... 

One very important application of radioactive isotopes is the determination of the ages of archaeological remains. The pioneer in this type of investigation is the American chemist Willard F. Libby. The radioactive isotope carbon-14, was discovered in 1940 by the American biochemists Samuel Ruben and Martin David... 

Some of these radiocarbon atoms find their way into iiving trees and other piants in the form of carbon dioxide, as a resuit of photosynthesis. When the tree is cut down photosynthesis stops and the ratio of radiocarbon atoms to stabie carbon atoms begins to faii as the radiocarbon decays. The ratio in the specimen can be measured and enables the time that has elapsed since the tree was cut down to be calculated. The method has been shown to give consistent results for specimens up to some 40 000 years old, though its accuracy depends upon assumptions concerning the past intensity of the cosmic radiation. The technique was developed by Willard F. Libby (1908-80) and his CO workers in 1946-47. 

Carbon-14 dating (Willard F. Libby) Libby uses the half-life of carbon 14 to develop a reliable means of dating ancient remains. Radiocarbon dating has proven to be invaluable to archaeologists. 

One of the most interesting recent applications of radioactivity is the determination of the age of carbonaceous materials by measurement of their carbon-14 radioactivity. This technique of radiocarbon dating, which was developed by an American physical chemist, Willard F. Libby, permits the dating of samples containing carbon with an accuracy of around 200 years. At the present time the method can be applied to materials that are not over about 50,000 years old. 

In 1955, American chemist Willard F. libby suggested that the ratio could be used to estimate the lensth of time... 

George Norris to Robert McKinney, 28 Nov. 1955, Box 800, Norris to Clinton P. Anderson, 3, 12 Jan., 3 Mar. 1956, Box 797, Qinton P. Anderson Papers, Library of Congress Willard F. Libby to Melvin Price, 24 Feb. 1956, General Correspondence (Insurance—Seminar, 1956), "Staff Memorandum on Insurance Problems," 2 Dec. 1955 (Indemnity), JCAE Papers AEC 785/8, AEC/ NRC. 

Willard F. Libby, then Acting Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, letter to Senator Bourke Hickenlooper (March 14, 1956), reproduced in Okrent. 

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