1960年诺贝尔化学奖授予美国物理化学家威拉德·弗兰克·利比(见图1),以表彰他发明了用放射性碳-14测定地质年代的方法.利比于1947年首先提出了用碳的放射性同位素即碳-14来测定地质年代的方法,1952年他发表著作《放射性碳测年》.碳-14在自然界含量极少,是碳家族中最稳定、最重要的同位素,其半衰期为5 730年.无论是埋藏地下深层的样品,还是保存时间遥远的古代文物,只要测定其碳-14与碳-12的含量比例,按照碳-14的放射性衰变公式进行计算,便可 The 1960 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Willard Frank Libby (see Figure 1), an American physicochemist, in recognition of his invention of a method for the determination of geological age using radioactive carbon- 14. Libby first proposed in 1947 the use of Carbon radioisotope carbon -14 to determine the geologic age method, published in 1952 as “radiocarbon dating.” Carbon-14 content in nature is extremely small, is the most stable carbon family, the most important isotope, its half-life For 5 730. Whether it is a deep underground sample buried or preserved ancient artifacts far away, as long as the determination of its carbon -14 and carbon -12 content ratio, calculated according to the carbon -14 radioactive decay formula can be