About Beta Analytic

Devoted to Precision, Accuracy and Dependability

The fundamental goal of a scientific researcher is to become a foremost authority in his field. This is accomplished by having access to the best available technology, which is capable of delivering accurate data, both efficiently and dependably. Since new scientific data is untested, it must be reproducible and trustworthy. Beta Analytic's mission is to give researchers access to such technology. Understanding and satisfying this need has resulted in a growing client list of over 5000 scientists from more than 30 countries around the world.

Today, Beta Analytic is the world's largest radiocarbon dating laboratory.

Our devotion to accuracy, dependability, and confidentiality is the foundation upon which our colleagues' faith and trust is built. This trust is the motivating force behind our consistent efforts to provide quality scientific data. Our devotion to accuracy and dependability has led to a world renowned reputation, one we hold as our most precious possession.

Dr. Murry Tamers, Ph.D., D.Sc., founder of Beta Analytic Inc.

• Ph.D. graduate of Yale University
• D.Sc. graduate from Universite' de Paris (Sorbonne)
• Co-developer of the conventional method of radiocarbon dating (benzene synthesis for liquid scintillation counting)
• Twenty years as a director of university radiocarbon dating laboratories
• Author of 65 publications
• As chairman and laboratory director of Beta Analytic Inc., he commercialized the field of radiocarbon dating (over 120,000 analyses performed)

Designers of a Revolutionary Process

Radioactive carbon ("radiocarbon" or "14C") in naturally occurring materials was first identified in 1934 by researchers at Yale University. In 1940 at the University of Chicago, Willard Libby demonstrated its use for dating archaeological materials by measuring 14C radioactive emissions from within them. Many researchers subsequently began exploring radiocarbon dating methods. In 1960, Libby was awarded the Nobel Prize for his work. In 1961, Murry Tamers at Gif-sur-Yvette, in France, presented the liquid scintillation counting (LSC) radiocarbon dating method. This method overcame the problems of prior methods and by 1970 was adopted as the conventional method for radiocarbon dating. Demand for radiocarbon dates rapidly exceeded the capacity of university laboratories.

In 1979, Dr. Tamers co-founded Beta Analytic, a private, high-capacity LSC radiocarbon dating laboratory designed to meet the needs of the international research community. Simultaneous to the discovery and study of radiocarbon, high energy accelerators at national laboratories and research institutes were being developed for nuclear and atomic research. Researchers theorized that these instruments could be used for radiocarbon dating. By 1975, research using accelerator mass spectrometers (AMS) for radiocarbon dating was well under way. Since an AMS could count atoms, the advantage over LSC would be that 1000 times less material would be needed for an analysis. In 1977 radiocarbon was isolated within an AMS and the field of AMS radiocarbon dating was born. As with LSC radiocarbon dating, demand from the scientific community far exceeded the capacity of AMS facilities.