> The discovery that carbon atoms act as a marker of time of death transformed everything from biochemistry to oceanography – but the breakthrough nearly didn’t

> The discovery that carbon atoms act as a marker of time of death transformed everything from biochemistry to oceanography – but the breakthrough nearly didn’t happen This is a silly statement that's a pet peeve of mine; this breakthrough was inevitable, given the state of science and technology. The only aspect that wasn't certain was who'd discover it first and exactly when. If not Kamen, it would have been someone else, and not too long after.