Hessel_de_Vries
Hessel de Vries
Dutch physicist (1916–1959)
Hessel de Vries (November 15, 1916 in Annen – December 23, 1959 in Groningen), was a Dutch physicist and professor at the University of Groningen who furthered the detection methods and applications of radiocarbon dating to a variety of sciences. The Nobel prize was awarded for in this field in 1960, however de Vries was not a contender, since the prize is not awarded posthumously and Hessel de Vries died in 1959 by suicide after murdering an analyst, Anneke Hoogeveen.[1] He has been called "the unsung hero of radiocarbon dating" by Eric Willis, the first director of the radiocarbon-dating laboratory at the University of Cambridge.[2] The 1960 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Willard Libby for his radiocarbon-dating method. His other major area of research included studies of human color vision and hearing.[3][4] De Vries became a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1956.[5]