CHEMIST

Willard Libby

1908 - 1980

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Willard Frank Libby (December 17, 1908 – September 8, 1980) was an American physical chemist noted for his role in the 1949 development of radiocarbon dating, a process which revolutionized archaeology and palaeontology. For his contributions to the team that developed this process, Libby was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1960. A 1931 chemistry graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, from which he received his doctorate in 1933, he studied radioactive elements and developed sensitive Geiger counters to measure weak natural and artificial radioactivity. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Willard Libby has received more than 376,841 page views. His biography is available in 65 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 60 in 2019). Willard Libby is the 140th most popular chemist (down from 102nd in 2019), the 917th most popular biography from United States (down from 765th in 2019) and the 22nd most popular American Chemist.

Willard Libby is most famous for his research in the field of radiocarbon dating. He won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1960 for his work on radiocarbon dating.

Memorability Metrics

  • 380k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 63.26

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 65

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 10.20

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 4.07

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among CHEMISTS

Among chemists, Willard Libby ranks 140 out of 602. Before him are Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky, Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Glenn T. Seaborg, Marie-Anne Paulze Lavoisier, Joachim Frank, and Kurt Wüthrich. After him are Louis Nicolas Vauquelin, Sune Bergström, John Newlands, Christian B. Anfinsen, James Dewar, and Jean-Baptiste Dumas.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1908, Willard Libby ranks 40. Before him are David Lean, William Saroyan, Arthur Adamov, Dmitry Ustinov, Carole Lombard, and Cesare Pavese. After him are Tameo Ide, Günther Prien, John Kenneth Galbraith, Alfred Hershey, Chivu Stoica, and Infante Jaime, Duke of Segovia. Among people deceased in 1980, Willard Libby ranks 39. Before him are Gregory Bateson, Hans Morgenthau, Alejo Carpentier, William Howard Stein, Bill Evans, and Anastasio Somoza Debayle. After him are Yigal Allon, Marian Rejewski, Lewis Milestone, Marcelo Caetano, Mae West, and Vinicius de Moraes.

Others Born in 1908

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Others Deceased in 1980

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Willard Libby ranks 917 out of 20,380. Before him are Frederick Reines (1918), Herbert A. Hauptman (1917), Jill Biden (1951), James Hetfield (1963), Don Shirley (1927), and Francis Peyton Rous (1879). After him are Larry Hagman (1931), Billy Joel (1949), Jennifer Connelly (1970), Jerry Lee Lewis (1935), Burton Richter (1931), and William Kemmler (1860).

Others born in United States

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Among CHEMISTS In United States

Among chemists born in United States, Willard Libby ranks 22. Before him are Vincent du Vigneaud (1901), Robert Burns Woodward (1917), Raymond Davis Jr. (1914), Wendell Meredith Stanley (1904), William Howard Stein (1911), and Glenn T. Seaborg (1912). After him are Christian B. Anfinsen (1916), Arthur Kornberg (1918), Julius Axelrod (1912), Kary Mullis (1944), Karl Barry Sharpless (1941), and Jerome Karle (1918).

American born Chemists

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