Jocelyn Bell Burnell

In this episode, I'm joined by the legendary Dame Susan Jocelyn Bell Burnell - the pioneering astrophysicist who discovered pulsars, launching an entirely new field of astrophysics. She began her PhD searching for quasars, but soon noticed a strange, repetitive signal appearing night after night - so peculiar she jokingly labelled it LGM ("Little Green Men"). That signal would become one of the most important astronomical discoveries of the century, though the credit and Nobel Prize were controversially awarded to her supervisor. Dr Bell Burnell also shares why she donated $4.3 million of her own prize money to support underrepresented researchers in physics, especially women and girls, and the work she's doing to make the field more inclusive. We dive into her views on religion, her life in science since that landmark discovery, and her mission to help more young women pursue careers in physics.

In the late 1960s Cambridge PhD student Jocelyn Bell Burnell was studying quasars (very luminous active galactic nuclei) when she reported anomalous data which was later identified as pulsars (‘pulsating stars’). While she was controversially missed off the list for the Nobel Prize awarded in 1974 for this discovery, Bell Burnell continued to be a pioneer in the field. Now nearing the end of her career, Dame Jocelyn tells Research Features what it was like to grow up in Northern Ireland, be the only woman in a male-dominated environment, and what space research looks like in the era of AI technology. Read more in Research Features

Interview with astronomer Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell Jeni talks to the legendary discoverer of pulsars, champion of women in science and Oxford University astronomer about her astronomy career, inspirations, motivations and key discoveries.

Welcome to the SHOT with CwC where we all take a shot and tell a brief story about one of the universe's many topics! In this episode, Mike talks about the astronomical contributions of Jocelyn Bell Burnell. Listen and Subscribe to us on: Anchor.fm Spotify YouTube Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Cosmoswithcosmos.com Follow Us! Twitter: @drinkingcosmos Instagram: @cosmoswithcosmos Credits: Eric Skiff - Resistor Anthems http://EricSkiff.com/music Theme Music Remixed by: Ron Proctor https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC__fjzKFm0X0BQWHjYX8Z_w Wildixia https://www.etsy.com/shop/Wildixia?ref=profile_header

"I was tracking down every signal that it picked up, and there was one signal that I couldn't make sense of." Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell gives Izzie and Dr Becky a neutron star 101 and tells them how she discovered pulsars in the 1960s. Plus, Dr Robert Massey takes on your questions and tells us what to look out for in the spring night sky. Book Club Recommendations Forgotten Women: The Scientists - Zing Tsjeng Six Impossible Things - John Gribbin The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking) - Katie Mack Vera Rubin: A Life - Jacqueline and Simon Mitton Cosmos - Carl Sagan The Book Nobody Read - Owen Gingerich Don't forget to send your questions or space book club recommendations to podcast@ras.ac.uk or tweet @RoyalAstroSoc using #RASSupermassive. The Supermassive Podcast is a Boffin Media Production by Izzie Clarke and Richard Hollingham. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell tells us about Advocating for women in science.