Willard Frank Libby developed the radiocarbon dating technique in the mid-1940s. Carbon-14 was known to exist in nature, but little was known of its origins and properties. In 1939, Libby discovered that cosmic rays interacting with nitrogen at high altitudes produced a rapid formation of carbon-14. This high-altitude formation is the basis of the claim that the current ratio of carbon-14 and carbon-12 has been constant throughout history.
While working at the Enrico Fermi Institute of Nucreal Studies in Chicago, Libby was able to artificially produce the carbon-14 and accurately determine its half-life. In addition, he devised a relatively simple device that measures the amount of carbon-14 in an organic sample. Before the creation of this device, measuring carbon-14 was a very expensive and difficult process. Libby's method made radiocarbon dating a practical possibility and revolutionized the field of archeology and geology.
Libby received his doctorate degree in chemistry frome the University of California at Berkeley in 1933 and taught there until 1945. During World War II, Libby also worked on the Manhattan Project, which developed the atomic bomb. During the years 1955 - 1959, he served on the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, where he was instrumental in the formulation of many aspects of the commission.
After many years of dedicated research and numerous discoveries, Libby was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1960 "for his method of using carbon-14 as a measure of time in archeology, geology, geophysics, and other sciences.
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