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Period: to
Industrial Revolution
Carbon rates in atmosphere increased CO2 levels but decreased carbon-14 levels. -
Early Discovery
Sir Ernest Rutherford and Frederick Soddy discovered the idea of radioactive decay -
Isolation Begins
Martin David Kamen and Sam Ruben isolate the Carbon-14 isotope. -
Dating Begins
Willard Frank Libby found the first method for dating biological material at University of Chicago. -
Letting the World Know
Arnold and Libby publish paper "age determination by radiocabon content" in the journal "Science" -
Can it be Trusted??
Testing on known-age Mediterranean samples, radiocarbon rates showed they were younger they they truly were. -
Adding Fuel to the Fire
Gas counting method replaced solid carbon method. -
Period: to
Atomic Testing
Detonations of atomic bombs doubled carbon-14 levels -
Importance of Temperature
Dutch Scholar Hesse de Vries suggested there are fluctuations in C-14 concentreations according to the temperature. -
Prize for the findings
Libby wins Nobel Prize for research. -
Cambridge Half-life
Conference at University of Cambridge puts half life of carbon at 5730 give or take 40years. -
Tree-ring Testing
Calibration testing on tree-rings helped increase accuracy. -
More Precise Dating
Accelerator Mass Spectrometer measurements were conducted for the first time. At Rochester/ Toronto and General Ionex Corporation. -
Closer to Perfection
Accuracy of a difference of 40 years on samples less than 10,000 years old -
Aim for Accuracy
"Journal Radiocarbon" announces more accurate dating to 50,000 years.
