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{{Short description|Dutch physicist (1916–1959)}}
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'''Hessel de Vries''' (November 15, 1916 in [[Annen]] &ndash; December 23, 1959 in [[Groningen (city)|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. But for his untimely death, he might have been a Nobel laureate.<ref name="BWvN">{{cite book |chapter=Vries, Hessel de (1916-1959) |author=J. J. M. Engels |title=[[Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland]] |volume=5 |year=2002 |chapter-url=http://www.inghist.nl/Onderzoek/Projecten/BWN/lemmata/bwn5/vriesh |language=Dutch}}</ref> He has been called "the unsung hero of radiocarbon dating" by Eric&nbsp;Willis, the first director of the [[University of Cambridge Godwin Laboratory|radiocarbon-dating laboratory]] at the [[University of Cambridge]].<ref>Willis, E. H. (1996), ''Radiocarbon dating in Cambridge: some personal recollections. A Worm's Eye View of the Early Days'', [http://www.quaternary.group.cam.ac.uk/history/radiocarbon/].</ref>
{{family name hatnote|[[De Vries]]|Vries|lang=Dutch}}{{Dutch name capitalization|De Vries}}{{Infobox scientist
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1915|11|15}}
| birth_place = [[Annen]], [[Netherlands]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1959|12|23|1915|11|15}}
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| death_place = [[Groningen]], [[Netherlands]]
| fields = [[Radiocarbon dating]]<br>[[Vision science]]
| workplaces = [[University of Groningen]]
| known_for = [[De Vries–Rose law]]<br>[[Hessel de Vries|De Vries effect]]
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}}
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'''Hessel de Vries''' (November 15, 1916 &ndash; December 23, 1959), 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 1960 [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]] was awarded to [[Willard Libby]] for his radiocarbon-dating method, however De Vries was not a contender, since the prize is not awarded posthumously and Hessel de Vries died in Groningen in 1959 by suicide after murdering an analyst, Anneke Hoogeveen.<ref name="BWvN">{{cite book |chapter=Vries, Hessel de (1916-1959) |author=J. J. M. Engels |title=Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland |volume=5 |year=2002 |chapter-url=http://www.inghist.nl/Onderzoek/Projecten/BWN/lemmata/bwn5/vriesh |language=Dutch|title-link=Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland }}</ref> He has been called "the unsung hero of radiocarbon dating" by Eric&nbsp;Willis, the first director of the [[University of Cambridge Godwin Laboratory|radiocarbon-dating laboratory]] at the [[University of Cambridge]].<ref>Willis, E. H. (1996), ''Radiocarbon dating in Cambridge: some personal recollections. A Worm's Eye View of the Early Days'', [http://www.quaternary.group.cam.ac.uk/history/radiocarbon/].</ref> His other major area of research included studies of human color vision and hearing.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=De Vries|first=H.|date=1956|title=Physical aspects of the sense organs|journal=Progress in Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry|volume=6|pages=207–264|issn=0096-4174|pmid=13420192|doi=10.1016/S0096-4174(18)30108-2|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=de Waard|first=H.|date=1960-06-10|title=Hessel de Vries, Physicist and Biophysicist|journal=Science|language=en|volume=131|issue=3415|pages=1720–1721|doi=10.1126/science.131.3415.1720|pmid=17796421|issn=0036-8075|bibcode=1960Sci...131.1720D}}</ref> De Vries became a member of the [[Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1956.<ref>{{cite web|author= |url=http://www.dwc.knaw.nl/biografie/pmknaw/?pagetype=authorDetail&aId=PE00003667 |title=Hessel de Vries (1916 - 1959) |publisher=Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences |date= |accessdate=24 January 2016}}</ref>


==Vision science==
De Vries became a member of the [[Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1956.<ref>{{cite web|author= |url=http://www.dwc.knaw.nl/biografie/pmknaw/?pagetype=authorDetail&aId=PE00003667 |title=Hessel de Vries (1916 - 1959) |publisher=Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences |date= |accessdate=24 January 2016}}</ref>
In 1943 De Vries discovered a law of [[scotopic]] vision that was further investigated by [[Albert Rose (physicist)|Albert Rose]] and is known as the [[De Vries–Rose law]]. He investigated the effect of temperature on vision by requiring subjects to sit in hot baths.<ref name="BWvN" />


==De Vries effect==
==De Vries effect==
In 1958, de Vries showed that baffling anomalies in the [[carbon-14]] dates, observed by [[Willard Frank Libby]] for [[Egyptological]] samples, were in fact systematic anomalies on a global scale, represented in the carbon-14 dates of [[tree ring]]s. This phenomenon has been called the "de Vries effect".<ref>{{cite book |title=Man-Made and Natural Radioactivity in Environmental Pollution and Radiochronology |chapter=Chapter 2. Radiocarbon |author=Jan Šilar |page=174 |editor=Richard Tykva and Dieter Berg |publisher=Kluwer Academic Publishers |year=2004 |isbn=1-4020-1860-6}}</ref> The correspondence with tree rings, which can be counted (one ring for each year), led to a recalibration of radiocarbon dating that was a large improvement in the accuracy.
In 1958, de Vries showed that baffling anomalies in the [[carbon-14]] dates, observed by [[Willard Frank Libby]] for [[Egyptology|Egyptological]] samples, were in fact systematic anomalies on a global scale, represented in the carbon-14 dates of [[tree ring]]s. This phenomenon has been called the "De Vries effect".<ref>{{cite book |title=Man-Made and Natural Radioactivity in Environmental Pollution and Radiochronology |chapter=Chapter 2. Radiocarbon |author=Jan Šilar |page=174 |editor=Richard Tykva and Dieter Berg |publisher=Kluwer Academic Publishers |year=2004 |isbn=1-4020-1860-6}}</ref> The correspondence with tree rings, which can be counted (one ring for each year), led to a recalibration of radiocarbon dating that was a large improvement in the accuracy.


==Murder and suicide==
==Murder and suicide==
De Vries committed suicide in 1959, after murdering a former analyst (Anneke Hoogeveen), with whom he was in love but who had become engaged to another man.<ref name="BWvN"/><ref>{{cite news |title=Meisje doodgestoken in Groningen |trans_title=Girl stabbed to death in Groningen |newspaper=[[Utrechts Nieuwsblad]] |date=24 December 1959 |page=1 |language=Dutch}}</ref> But for his death, he might have shared in the 1960 [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]], which was awarded to Libby for his radiocarbon-dating method.
De Vries became obsessed with his assistant, Anneke Hoogeveen, and left his wife and children in the hope of being with her. In December 1959 De Vries stabbed her to death with a chisel at her parents' home, then killed himself using cyanide.<ref name="BWvN"/><ref>{{cite news |title=Meisje doodgestoken in Groningen |trans-title=Girl stabbed to death in Groningen |newspaper=[[Utrechts Nieuwsblad]] |date=24 December 1959 |page=1 |language=Dutch}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Moord en zelfmoord te Groningen |trans-title=Murder and suicide in Groningen |newspaper=[[Nieuwsblad van het Noorden]] |date=24 December 1959 |page=1 |language=Dutch |url=https://www.delpher.nl/nl/kranten/view?query=&facets%5Bperiode%5D%5B%5D=1%7C20e_eeuw%7C1950-1959%7C&page=1&sortfield=datedesc&cql%5B%5D=ppn+any+%28833013246%29&coll=ddd&redirect=true&resultscoll=dddtitel&identifier=ddd:010678261:mpeg21&rowid=5}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rtvnoord.nl/nieuws/217090/vandaag-60-jaar-geleden-hoe-hessel-de-vries-de-nobelprijs-misliep-door-de-moord-op-zijn-laborante |title=Vandaag 60 jaar geleden: hoe Hessel de Vries de Nobelprijs misliep door de moord op zijn laborante}}</ref>


==References==
==References==
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{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}

{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
| NAME = Vries, Hessel De
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vries, Hessel de}}
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = Dutch physicist
| DATE OF BIRTH = November 15, 1916
| PLACE OF BIRTH = [[Annen]]
| DATE OF DEATH = December 23, 1959
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| PLACE OF DEATH = [[Groningen (city)]]
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}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vries, Hessel De}}
[[Category:1916 births]]
[[Category:1916 births]]
[[Category:1959 deaths]]
[[Category:1959 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Aa en Hunze]]
[[Category:1959 murders in the Netherlands]]
[[Category:Dutch physicists]]
[[Category:1959 suicides]]
[[Category:University of Groningen faculty]]
[[Category:20th-century Dutch physicists]]
[[Category:Radiometric dating]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Groningen]]
[[Category:Murder in the Netherlands]]
[[Category:Scientists who committed suicide]]
[[Category:Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
[[Category:Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
[[Category:Murder–suicides in Europe]]
[[Category:People from Aa en Hunze]]

Latest revision as of 09:25, 17 November 2024

In this Dutch name, the surname is De Vries, not Vries.
In this article, we use Dutch capitalization for the tussenvoegsels in Dutch family names. The first letter in De Vries is capitalized unless it is preceded by a name, initial or title of nobility.
Hessel de Vries
Born(1915-11-15)November 15, 1915
Annen, Netherlands
DiedDecember 23, 1959(1959-12-23) (aged 44)
Groningen, Netherlands
Known forDe Vries–Rose law
De Vries effect
Scientific career
FieldsRadiocarbon dating
Vision science
InstitutionsUniversity of Groningen

Hessel de Vries (November 15, 1916 – December 23, 1959), 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 1960 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Willard Libby for his radiocarbon-dating method, however De Vries was not a contender, since the prize is not awarded posthumously and Hessel de Vries died in Groningen 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] 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]

Vision science

[edit]

In 1943 De Vries discovered a law of scotopic vision that was further investigated by Albert Rose and is known as the De Vries–Rose law. He investigated the effect of temperature on vision by requiring subjects to sit in hot baths.[1]

De Vries effect

[edit]

In 1958, de Vries showed that baffling anomalies in the carbon-14 dates, observed by Willard Frank Libby for Egyptological samples, were in fact systematic anomalies on a global scale, represented in the carbon-14 dates of tree rings. This phenomenon has been called the "De Vries effect".[6] The correspondence with tree rings, which can be counted (one ring for each year), led to a recalibration of radiocarbon dating that was a large improvement in the accuracy.

Murder and suicide

[edit]

De Vries became obsessed with his assistant, Anneke Hoogeveen, and left his wife and children in the hope of being with her. In December 1959 De Vries stabbed her to death with a chisel at her parents' home, then killed himself using cyanide.[1][7][8][9]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c J. J. M. Engels (2002). "Vries, Hessel de (1916-1959)". Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland (in Dutch). Vol. 5.
  2. ^ Willis, E. H. (1996), Radiocarbon dating in Cambridge: some personal recollections. A Worm's Eye View of the Early Days, [1].
  3. ^ De Vries, H. (1956). "Physical aspects of the sense organs". Progress in Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry. 6: 207–264. doi:10.1016/S0096-4174(18)30108-2. ISSN 0096-4174. PMID 13420192.
  4. ^ de Waard, H. (1960-06-10). "Hessel de Vries, Physicist and Biophysicist". Science. 131 (3415): 1720–1721. Bibcode:1960Sci...131.1720D. doi:10.1126/science.131.3415.1720. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 17796421.
  5. ^ "Hessel de Vries (1916 - 1959)". Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
  6. ^ Jan Šilar (2004). "Chapter 2. Radiocarbon". In Richard Tykva and Dieter Berg (ed.). Man-Made and Natural Radioactivity in Environmental Pollution and Radiochronology. Kluwer Academic Publishers. p. 174. ISBN 1-4020-1860-6.
  7. ^ "Meisje doodgestoken in Groningen" [Girl stabbed to death in Groningen]. Utrechts Nieuwsblad (in Dutch). 24 December 1959. p. 1.
  8. ^ "Moord en zelfmoord te Groningen" [Murder and suicide in Groningen]. Nieuwsblad van het Noorden (in Dutch). 24 December 1959. p. 1.
  9. ^ "Vandaag 60 jaar geleden: hoe Hessel de Vries de Nobelprijs misliep door de moord op zijn laborante".
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