Willard Libby

Willard Libby was a chemist whose technique of carbon-14 dating provided an extremely valuable tool for a variety of scientists.

Synopsis
While associated with the Manhattan Project (1941–45), Willard Libby helped develop the atomic bomb. Libby began experimenting with carbon-14, radiocarbon, in the late 1930s and discovered that it could be used to determine the age of very old things. In 1947, Libby obtained the first age determination using the carbon-14 dating technique and won the Nobel Prize for his discovery in 1960.