Willard Libby facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Willard Libby
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| Born |
Willard Frank Libby
December 17, 1908 |
| Died | September 8, 1980 (aged 71) Los Angeles, California
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| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of California, Berkeley |
| Known for | Radiocarbon dating |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Radioactivity |
| Institutions | |
| Thesis | Radioactivity of ordinary elements, especially samarium and neodymium: method of detection (1933) |
| Doctoral advisor | Wendell Mitchell Latimer |
| Doctoral students | Maurice Sanford Fox Frank Sherwood Rowland |
Willard Frank Libby (born December 17, 1908 – died September 8, 1980) was an American chemist. He is famous for helping to create radiocarbon dating in 1949. This method changed how we study archaeology and palaeontology. For his important work, Libby won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1960.
Libby earned his chemistry degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 1931. He received his doctorate there in 1933. He studied radioactive elements and built special Geiger counters. These tools could measure very weak natural and artificial radioactivity. During World War II, he worked on the Manhattan Project. This project developed the atomic bomb. He helped create a process called gaseous diffusion to enrich uranium.
After the war, Libby became a professor at the University of Chicago. There, he developed the radiocarbon dating method. This technique dates old organic materials using carbon-14. He also found that tritium could date water, like in old wine. In 1950, he joined the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). He became a commissioner in 1954, being the only scientist on the team. He supported developing the hydrogen bomb and the Atoms for Peace program. He also defended nuclear testing in the atmosphere.
Libby left the AEC in 1959. He became a chemistry professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He stayed there until he retired in 1976. In 1962, he became the Director of the University of California Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics. He also started UCLA's first Environmental Engineering program in 1972. He worked to improve California's air pollution standards.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Willard Frank Libby was born in Parachute, Colorado, on December 17, 1908. His parents, Ora Edward and Eva May Libby, were farmers. He had two brothers and two sisters. Libby started school in a small, two-room schoolhouse in Colorado. When he was five, his family moved to Santa Rosa, California. He went to Analy High School in Sebastopol. He graduated from high school in 1926. Libby was tall, about 6 feet 2 inches (188 cm). He played tackle on his high school football team.
In 1927, he began studying at the University of California, Berkeley. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in 1931. He then received his PhD in 1933. His doctoral paper was about the "Radioactivity of ordinary elements." His advisor was Wendell Mitchell Latimer. Libby discovered that natural long-lived isotopes of samarium mostly decay by giving off alpha particles. This was similar to work done by George de Hevesy and Max Pahl.
Libby became an Instructor in Chemistry at Berkeley in 1933. He was promoted to assistant professor in 1938. During the 1930s, he built very sensitive Geiger counters. These tools helped him measure weak natural and artificial radioactivity. In 1941, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship. He chose to work at Princeton University for this fellowship.
Working on the Manhattan Project
On December 8, 1941, the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States entered World War II. Libby offered his skills to Nobel Prize winner Harold Urey. Urey arranged for Libby to leave Berkeley and join him at Columbia University. They worked on the Manhattan Project. This secret wartime project aimed to develop atomic bombs. Libby worked at the Substitute Alloy Materials (SAM) Laboratories. During this time, he lived in Leonia, New Jersey.
For the next three years, Libby worked on the gaseous diffusion process. This process was used for uranium enrichment. An atomic bomb needed a special material called fissile uranium-235. However, this type of uranium makes up only 0.7 percent of natural uranium. The SAM Laboratories had to find a way to separate kilograms of it from the more common uranium-238. Gaseous diffusion works because lighter gases move through a barrier faster than heavier ones. The only known gas with uranium was uranium hexafluoride, which was very corrosive. Finding a suitable barrier was a big challenge.
Throughout 1942, Libby and his team studied different barriers. They also looked for ways to protect them from the corrosive uranium hexafluoride. A promising barrier was made of powdered nickel. Edward O. Norris and Edward Adler developed it. By late 1942, it was known as the "Norris-Adler" barrier.
Besides developing a barrier, the SAM Laboratories also helped design a gaseous separation plant. This plant became known as K-25. Libby helped engineers from Kellex create a working design for a pilot plant. Libby's tests showed that the Norris-Adler barrier could work. He was confident that remaining problems could be solved with a lot of effort. Even with some doubts, construction of the K-25 full-scale plant began in September 1943.
Many problems remained as 1943 turned into 1944. Tests on the K-25 machinery began in April 1944 without a barrier. Attention then shifted to a new process developed by Kellex. Finally, in July 1944, Kellex barriers started to be installed in K-25. K-25 began operating in February 1945. As more sections came online, the quality of the product improved. By April 1945, K-25 had enriched uranium to 1.1%. This partially enriched uranium was then sent to Y-12. There, calutrons completed the enrichment process.
Construction of the upper parts of the K-25 plant was stopped. Instead, Kellex was asked to design and build a 540-stage unit called K-27. The last of K-25's 2,892 stages began operating in August 1945. On August 5, K-25 started producing uranium enriched to 23 percent uranium-235. K-25 and K-27 reached their full potential after the war. They became models for new plants. Enriched uranium was used in the Little Boy bomb. This bomb was used in the bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Libby brought home newspapers and told his wife, "This is what I've been doing."
How Radiocarbon Dating Works
After the war, Libby became a professor at the University of Chicago. He joined the new Institute for Nuclear Studies. He went back to studying radioactivity, which he did before the war. In 1939, Serge Korff found that cosmic rays create neutrons high in the atmosphere. These neutrons react with nitrogen-14 in the air to make carbon-14.
- 1n + 14N → 14C + 1p
The half-life of carbon-14 is about 5,730 years. This means half of a sample of carbon-14 will decay in that time. Libby realized that when plants and animals die, they stop taking in new carbon-14. This gives any organic material a natural "nuclear clock." He published his idea in 1946. He wrote more about it in his book Radiocarbon Dating in 1955. He also developed sensitive radiation detectors for this method. Tests on sequoia trees with known ages showed that radiocarbon dating was accurate. This technique changed archaeology, palaeontology, and other fields that study old objects. In 1960, he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He received it "for his method to use carbon-14 for age determination." He also found that tritium could be used to date water, and therefore wine.
Work with the Atomic Energy Commission
Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) Chairman Gordon Dean chose Libby to join its General Advisory Committee (GAC) in 1950. In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed him an AEC commissioner. Libby and his family moved from Chicago to Washington, D.C.. He brought his scientific equipment to set up a lab at the Carnegie Institution for Science. There, he continued his studies. Libby was politically conservative. He was one of the few scientists who supported Edward Teller over Robert Oppenheimer. This was during a debate about quickly developing the hydrogen bomb.
As a commissioner, Libby helped promote Eisenhower's Atoms for Peace program. He was part of the U.S. team at the Geneva Conferences on Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy in 1955 and 1958.
Libby was the only scientist among the five AEC commissioners. So, it was his job to defend the Eisenhower administration's view on atmospheric nuclear testing. He argued that radiation from nuclear tests was less dangerous than from chest X-rays. He felt it was less important than having enough nuclear weapons. However, his arguments did not convince other scientists or calm the public. In January 1956, he publicly shared information about Project SUNSHINE. This project studied the effects of radioactive fallout on people. Libby had started it in 1953. By 1958, even Libby and Teller supported limiting atmospheric nuclear testing.
Life at UCLA
Libby left the AEC in 1959. He became a Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He held this job until he retired in 1976. He taught honors chemistry to new students. In 1962, he became the Director of the University of California Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics (IGPP). He also held this position until 1976. His time as director included the Apollo space program and the moon landings.
Libby started the first Environmental Engineering program at UCLA in 1972. He was a member of the California Air Resources Board. He worked to create and improve California's air pollution standards. He began research to reduce pollution from cars. This involved making fuel burn more completely. When Richard Nixon became president in 1968, some thought Libby might become the Presidential Science Advisor. However, many scientists protested because they felt Libby was too conservative. So, the offer was not made.
Libby retired in 1976 and became a professor emeritus. But he remained active in his field until he passed away in 1980.
Awards and Recognitions
Libby was chosen as a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He was also part of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. Besides the Nobel Prize, he received many other honors. These included:
- Columbia University's Chandler Medal (1954)
- The Remsen Memorial Lecture Award (1955)
- The Bicentennial Lecture Award from the City College of New York (1956)
- The Nuclear Applications in Chemistry Award (1956)
- The Franklin Institute's Elliott Cresson Medal (1957)
- The American Chemical Society's Willard Gibbs Award (1958)
- The Joseph Priestley Award from Dickinson College (1959)
- The Albert Einstein Medal (1959)
- The Geological Society of America's Arthur L. Day Medal (1961)
- The Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement (1961)
- The Gold Medal of the American Institute of Chemists (1970)
- The Lehman Award from the New York Academy of Sciences (1971)
He became a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1950. The library at Analy High School has a mural of Libby. A park in Sebastopol and a nearby highway are named in his honor. In 2016, his 1947 paper on radiocarbon dating received a Citation for Chemical Breakthrough Award. This award was given by the American Chemical Society to the University of Chicago.
Personal Life
In 1940, Libby married Leonor Hickey, who was a physical education teacher. They had twin daughters, Janet Eva and Susan Charlotte, born in 1945.
In 1966, Libby divorced Leonor. He then married Leona Woods Marshall. She was a famous nuclear physicist. She was one of the original builders of Chicago Pile-1, the world's first nuclear reactor. She joined him at UCLA as a professor of environmental engineering in 1973. Through this marriage, he gained two stepsons, who were her children from her first marriage.
Libby passed away at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles on September 8, 1980. He died from a blood clot in his lung, made worse by pneumonia. His papers are kept at the Charles E. Young Research Library at UCLA. Seven books of his papers were put together by Leona and Rainer Berger and published in 1981.
See also
In Spanish: Willard Libby para niños
