Hessel de Vries

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Hessel L. de Vries (born November 15, 1916 in Annen ; † December 23, 1959 in Groningen ) was a Dutch biophysicist who became known for the further development of the C14 method for determining the age of organic substances.

Life

From 1934 Hessel de Vries studied mathematics and physics at the University of Groningen . In 1942 he received his doctorate with distinction and then worked at the University of Groningen in propaedeutic physics for medical students. During this time he began to deal with biophysics. Through the archaeologist Albert van Giffen , who teaches in Groningen , de Vries recognized the possibilities of the C14 method , which Willard Libby had discovered a decade earlier, and developed it further. De Vries found that the 14 C concentrations did not change linearly over time, as previously assumed, but were subject to fluctuations. A calibration is therefore required to determine the calendar age based on the radiocarbon age. This mismatch is also known as the DeVries effect . With this knowledge it was possible to improve the radiocarbon dating significantly. In 1954 he became a full professor at his university.

In 1956 De Vries became a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences . Two years later he became a research fellow at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, DC

On December 23, 1959, he first killed his assistant Anneke Hogeveen because she had refused a relationship with de Vries, and then himself.

Fonts (selection)

  • mit GW Barendsen: Radio-carbon dating by a proportional counter filled with carbondioxide . In: Physica . tape 1 , no. 1-12 , 1953, pp. 987-1003 , doi : 10.1016 / S0031-8914 (53) 80110-2 .
  • Atomic Bomb Effect: Variation of Radio-Carbon in Plants, Shells, and Snails in the past four years . In: Science See Saiensu . tape 128 , August 1958 (see also Nuclear Weapons Effect ).
  • Variation in Concentration of Radiocarbon with Time and Location on Earth . In: Proc. Royal Nederl. Akad. Wetenschappen . tape 61 , 1958, pp. 1–9 (on the De Vries effect later named after him).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ de Vries effect . In: John Matthews (Ed.): Encyclopedia of Environmental Change . SAGE, 2013, ISBN 978-1-4739-2819-0 .
  2. ↑ a b c J.JM Engels: Vries, Hessel de (1916-1959) . In: Biographical Woordenboek van Nederland , Volume 5
personal data
SURNAME Vries, Hessel de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Vries, Hessel L. de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch biophysicist
DATE OF BIRTH November 15, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH Anne
DATE OF DEATH December 23, 1959
Place of death Groningen