Hessel de Vries

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Hessel de Vries (Nov 15, 1916, Annen - Dec 23, 1959, Groningen), was a Dutch physicist at the University of Groningen who furthered the detection methods and applications of radiocarbon dating to a variety of sciences. He has been called "the unsung hero of radiocarbon dating" by Willis.

In 1958, de Vries showed that there were systematic anomalies in the carbon-14 dates of tree rings. His explanation was that the concentration of carbon-14 in the atmosphere had varied over time by up to 1%. He hypothesized that the variation might be explained by (a) something connected with climate, (b) that it was not created in the atmosphere at a uniform rate due to variations in the Earth's magnetic field, or (c) a cause lay in the Sun itself.

[edit] References

Willis, E.H. (1996), Radiocarbon dating in Cambridge: some personal recollections. A Worm's Eye View of the Early Days, [1]
de Vries, Hessel (1916-1959), by J. J. M. Engels [2]
The Discovery of Global Warming, by Spencer Weart [3]