THE DISCOVERY OF RADIOCARBON DATING

LIBBY, W.F. (WILLARD FRANK).

Four Papers: 1. (Together with Arnold, J.R.) Radiocarbon Dates. - 2. Radiocarbon Dates, II. - 3. Chicago Radiocarbon Dates, III - 4. Chicago Radiocarbon Dates, IV.

Chicago, Illinois: Institute for Nuclear Studies, University of Chicago, 1951. 1951, 1952, 1954. 4to. All 4 with orig. printed wrappers, being offprints from "Science" (Vol. 113, 114,116 a. 119). - 10 pp., 6 pp., 9,(1) pp., 6 pp. Light marginal stain to the first work.

First editions, off-prints, of all four papers, which together constitute the first printed results of radiocarbon dating, based on samples gathered by Libby and his co-workers. It was due to this discovery, which revolutionized the practice of archaeology and other branches of science (e.g. geology, geophysics, etc.), that Libby received the Nobel Prize in 1960.

Willard F. Libby (1908-80) was a skilled chemist who is remembered today for having developed the process of carbon-14 dating, which is now of the utmost importance to several branches of science. Libby studied chemistry at Berkeley, California, from where he obtained his doctorate in 1933; here he stayed on as, first instructor and then, associate professor. In 1941 he was recruited into the Manhattan Project. After the war he became professor at the University of Chicago, at the Institute for Nuclear Studies. It was here that he made his seminal discovery, namely that a hitherto rarely noticed isotope of carbon, that called carbon-14, was absorbed by plants through photosynthesis and that after a plant died, it would no longer absorb the carbon-14, causing its remains to gradually lose the carbon-14 that it had accumulated through radioactive decay. Thus, by measuring how much carbon-14 was left in the dead plant material, it would be possible to determine when it died. Libby now developed a method for measuring the carbon-14 content, and he began testing his technique (also on things, the dates of which were already known) and found that it applied to all locations everywhere.

The isotope carbon-14 had first been isolated in 1940 by two of Libby's students while working on the atomic bomb project. It had been shown that carbon 14 was continually being formed by cosmic rays colliding with atmospheric nitrogen. Libby surmised that traces should always be found in air's carbon dioxide, and that carbon 14 could be detected by modern devices in all products of life such as archaeology, geology, geophysics, and other branches of science. It was in 1950 that he reduced the small amount of ancient wood to pure carbon, and in measuring its radioactivity, he deduced its age. After the announcement of this result, scientists from around the worlds presented him with samples of items to date.

Naturally, Libby's discovery caused general excitement within scientific circles; archaeologists, geologists etc. now only needed something organic (e.g. wood, plant remains, charcoal etc.) to possibly date a find. The method is surprisingly accurate and only when dating things more than 10.000 years old, does it become less accurate.

Libby received the Nobel Prize in 1960 for his discovery of methods to use carbon 14.

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