Beta Analytic Inc., located in Miami, Florida, was founded in 1979 with a commitment to meet the demand of radiocarbon dating with rapid delivery and responsiveness to customer needs.
The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 specifically required federal procurement agencies to purchase products with the highest biobased content. Since biobased content is a measure of present-day carbon vs. fossil carbon, only a minor modification in the final calculations was required to turn a “radiocarbon date” into a “biobased content” measurement. With Beta’s radiocarbon dating expertise already in place, it was well positioned to immediately provide a reliable resource to the emerging biobased manufacturing industry.
Beta’s sole daily responsibility is to ensure the accurate pretreatment, measurement, reporting and accounting of submitted samples. The laboratory managers participate in all aspects of analyses and are on-site to supervise the analysis of samples. A working hierarchy of experience provides a high level of confidence and efficiency in the production of accurate carbon-14 test results in a timely fashion.
Beta has long-standing quality assurance programs in place. It owns and operates multiple in-house customized state-of-the-art accelerator mass spectrometers and continues to be recognized by researchers worldwide as a leader in the field.
Beta is an ISO 17025-accredited testing laboratory. This accreditation is unbiased, third-party awarded and supervised. Beta is unique to laboratories that not only have a quality management program that is conformant to the ISO 9001:2008 standard, but more importantly it has demonstrated to an outside third-party laboratory accreditation body that it has the competency necessary to consistently deliver technically valid test results. The ISO 17025 accreditation is specifically for natural level radiocarbon activity measurements, including biobased analysis of consumer products and fuels and for radiocarbon dating.
Beta was founded in 1979 by Dr. Murry Tamers, Ph.D. (Yale University), D.Sc. (Paris-Sorbonne University) and Dr. Jerry Stipp Ph.D. (Australian National University). They both were instrumental in the development of the radiocarbon analysis methodology since 1959 and have published more than 100 papers on radiocarbon dating, geochronology and hydrology. They formed Beta as a dedicated professional radiocarbon laboratory so that all members of the research community could routinely obtain accurate radiocarbon dates within a timely manner. Beta management understands the need for delivery of accurate and precise results with both attention to the researchers’ concerns and delivery within a promised time frame.
The company is presided over by Mr. Ronald Hatfield, President and Quality Assurance Manager, who joined Beta in 1983. He is a graduate of the University of Miami (BS Geology) and a former Assistant Director of the University of Miami Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory. He is an expert in all aspects of radiocarbon dating and biobased analysis procedures and acts as the senior supervisor in the daily performance of the AMS laboratory. In addition to supervising analyses, he makes daily quality assurance assessments prior to calculation of results.
Mr. Hatfield works together with a team of experts and senior advisors to Beta’s clients who are available to discuss specific quality-affecting aspects associated with their samples. The lab also counts on multiple professional technicians, who must pass standardized training programs prior to working directly on clients’ submitted materials. These programs are dictated by Beta’s ISO 17025 accreditation.
Page last updated: October 2023