The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1960 was awarded to Willard F. Libby "for his method to use Carbon-14 for age determination in archaeology, geology, geophysics, and other branches of science".

Carbon-14 is a kind of carbon, an isotope of carbon with an atomic weight of 14, which is found in the carbon dioxide of the air. The newly formed carbon-14 has high energy at the moment of its formation, so that it rapidly oxidizes to carbon dioxide, which spreads out and distributes itself evenly in the atmosphere. The ratio of carbon-14 in the carbon dioxide of the atmosphere is very low. But nevertheless, this ratio can be determined, for carbon-14 is a radioactive isotope and manifests itself by its radiation. It is true that archaeologists and geologists have had methods at their disposal by which they could date their material within the periods of time mentioned here. The carbon-14 method has also been applied in oceanography.