Jocelyn Bell Burnell

Dame Susan Jocelyn Bell Burnell DBE FRS FRSE FRAS FInstP (/bɜːrˈnɛl/; born 15 July 1943) is a Northern Irish astrophysicist. Her discovery of radio pulsars has been called as "one of the most significant scientific achievements of the 20th Century".

Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell DBE FRS FRSE FRAS FInstP
Bell Burnell in 2009
Born	Susan Jocelyn Bell (1943-07-15) 15 July 1943 Lurgan, Northern Ireland
Education	The Mount School, York
Alma mater	University of Glasgow (BSc) University of Cambridge (PhD)
Known for	Discovering the first four pulsars
Spouse	Martin Burnell ​ ​ (m. 1968; div. 1993)​
Children	Gavin Burnell
Awards	J. Robert Oppenheimer Memorial Prize (1978) Beatrice M. Tinsley Prize (1986) Herschel Medal (1989) Michael Faraday Prize (2010) Royal Medal (2015) Grande Médaille (2018) Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics (2018)
Scientific career
Fields	Astrophysics
Institutions	University of Bath University of Cambridge University of Glasgow Open University University of Oxford University of Southampton University College London
Thesis	The Measurement of radio source diameters using a diffraction method (1968)
Doctoral advisor	Antony Hewish
Influences	Fred Hoyle Frontiers of Astronomy (1955) Henry Tillott (her school physics teacher)
Website	www2.physics.ox.ac.uk/contacts/people/bellburnell

Composite Optical/X-ray image of the Crab Nebula, showing synchrotron emission in the surrounding pulsar wind nebula. This is powered by the injection of magnetic fields and particles from the central pulsar

Her work was recognised by the award of the Nobel Prize in Physics to her thesis supervisor Antony Hewish and to the astronomer Martin Ryle. Bell was excluded, despite having been the first to observe and precisely analyse the pulsars.

Burnell won the 2018 Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics.

Awards

• The Albert A. Michelson Medal of the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia (1973, jointly with Dr. Hewish).
• J. Robert Oppenheimer Memorial Prize from the Center for Theoretical Studies, University of Miami (1978).
• Beatrice M. Tinsley Prize of the American Astronomical Society (1986).
• Herschel Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1989).
• Jansky Lectureship before the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (1995).
• Magellanic Premium of the American Philosophical Society (2000).
• Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) (March 2003).
• Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) (2004).
• William E. Gordon and Elva Gordon distinguished lecture at the Arecibo Observatory on 27 June 2006.
• The Grote Reber Medal at the General Assembly of the International Radio Science Union in Istanbul (19 August 2011)
• The Royal Medal of the Royal Society (2015).
• The Women of the Year Prudential Lifetime Achievement Award (2015)
• The Institute of Physics President's Medal (2017)
• Grande Médaille of the French Academy of Sciences (2018)
• Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics (2018)

Honours

• In 1999, she was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to Astronomy and promoted to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 2007.
• In February 2013, she was assessed as one of the 100 most powerful women in the United Kingdom by Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4.
• In February 2014, she was elected President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the first woman to hold that office. She held the position from April 2014 to April 2018 when she was succeeded by Dame Anne Glover.
• In 2016, the Institute of Physics renamed their award for early-career female physicists the Jocelyn Bell Burnell Medal and Prize.

Publications

Her publications include:

• Burnell, S. Jocelyn (1989). Broken for Life. Swarthmore Lecture. London: Quaker Home Service. ISBN 978-0-85245-222-6.
• Riordan, Maurice; Burnell, S. Jocelyn (27 October 2008). Dark Matter: Poems of Space. Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. ISBN 978-1-903080-10-8.

Works cited

• "AAS Fellows". AAS. 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
• Addley, Esther (16 June 2007). "From Russia with gong". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
• Allan, Vicky (5 January 2015). "Face to Face: science star who went under the radar of Nobel Prize judges". The Herald. Glasgow. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
• "APS Member History". American Philosophical Society. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
• Bakewell, Joan (9 November 2010). "Interview with Jocelyn Bell Burnell". Belief. BBC. Archived from the original on 9 November 2010.
• "Beatrice M. Tinsley Prize". American Astronomical Society. Archived from the original on 17 January 2013. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
• "Beautiful Minds, Series 1". BBC Four. 25 April 2011. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
• "Beautiful Minds, Series 1, Jocelyn Bell Burnell (Part 1 of 3)". BBC Four. 24 April 2011. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
• "Bell Burnell, Dame (Susan) Jocelyn, (born 15 July 1943), astronomer; Visiting Professor of Astrophysics, University of Oxford, since 2004; President, Royal Society of Edinburgh, 2014–March 2018". Who's Who (UK). Oxford University Press. 1 December 2017. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.7157. ISBN 978-0-19-954088-4.
• Bell Burnell, Jocelyn (26 October 1995). "The woman who discovered pulsars: An Interview with Jocelyn Bell Burnell at NRAO (National Radio Astronomy Observatory)" (Interview). Interviewed by Kate Marsh Weatherall & David G. Finley. Weatherall Technical Applications. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
• Bell Burnell, Jocelyn (21 May 2000). "Oral History Interviews: Jocelyn Bell Burnell" (Interview). Interviewed by David DeVorkin. College Park, MD: AIP.
• Bell Burnell, Jocelyn (2007). "Pulsars 40 Years on". Science. 318 (5850): 579–581. doi:10.1126/science.1150039. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 17962545. S2CID 120774849.
• Bell Burnell, Jocelyn (2013b). A Quaker Astronomer Reflects: Can a Scientist Also Be Religious?. James Backhouse Lecture. Australia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). p. 11. ISBN 978-0-646-59239-8.
• Bell Burnell, Jocelyn (15 November 2013a). Pulsars and Extreme Physics. TU Wien. Retrieved 10 September 2019 – via YouTube.
• Bell Burnell, Jocelyn (8 November 2019). 23rd Annual Katzenstein Distinguished Lecture. University of Connecticut. Retrieved 10 November 2019 – via YouTube.
• Bell Burnell, Jocelyn (13 February 2020). "The Discovery Of Pulsars - A graduate student's tale" – via YouTube.
• Bell Burnell, S.J. (2004). "So Few Pulsars, So Few Females". Science. 304 (5670): 426–89. doi:10.1126/science.304.5670.489. PMID 15105461. S2CID 43369972.
• Bell Burnell, S. Jocelyn (1977). "Petit Four – After Dinner Speech published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Science Dec 1977". Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 302: 685–689. Bibcode:1977NYASA.302..685B. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1977.tb37085.x. S2CID 222086632.
• Bell, Susan Jocelyn (1968). The Measurement of radio source diameters using a diffraction method. repository.cam.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of Cambridge. doi:10.17863/CAM.4926. OCLC 500382385. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.449485.
• Bertsch McGrayne, Sharon (1998). Nobel Prize women in science: their lives, struggles, and momentous discoveries (Rev. ed.). Secaucus, N.J.: Carol Pub. Group. ISBN 978-0-8065-2025-4. OCLC 39633911 – via Internet Archive.
• Brown, Mark (28 November 2020). "'It'll upset a few fellows': Royal Society adds Jocelyn Bell Burnell portrait". the Guardian. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
• "Cosmic Search Vol. 1, No. 1 – Little Green Men, White Dwarfs or Pulsars?".
• "Council". Institute of Physics. Archived from the original on 9 March 2011.
• "Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell". The Life Scientific. 25 October 2011. BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
• "Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell Appointed Chancellor of the University of Dundee". University of Dundee. 20 February 2018. Archived from the original on 19 August 2018. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
• "Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell to be Royal Society's first female president". BBC Scotland. 5 February 2014. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
• "Dame Jocelyn Bell-Burnell – 2018 AstroFest Keynote Speaker". Central West Astronomical Society. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
• "The discovery of pulsars". Horizon. BBC. 1 September 2010. BBC Two.
• "Dr Gavin Burnell: Associate Professor in Condensed Matter Physics". Condensed Matter Physics Group, University of Leeds. 2010. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
• Eisberg, Joann (1997). "Jocelyn Bell Burnell (1943–)". In Shearer, Benjamin F.; Shearer, Barbara (eds.). Notable Women in the Physical Sciences: A Biographical Dictionary. Westport, CT and London: Greenwood Press. pp. 9–14. ISBN 978-0-313-29303-0 – via Internet Archive.
• "The Franklin Institute Awards | the Franklin Institute Science Museum". Franklin Institute. 3 February 2014. Archived from the original on 5 February 2012. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
• "Franklin Laureate Database – Albert A. Michelson Medal Laureates". Franklin Institute. Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
• Ghosh, Pallab (6 September 2018). "Fund to counter physics 'white male bias'". BBC News. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
• Ghosh, Pallab (19 March 2019). "Fund to boost female and black physicist numbers". BBC News.
• Gold, Lauren (6 July 2006). "Discoverer of pulsars (aka Little Green Men) reflects on the process of discovery and being a female pioneer". Cornell Chronicle.
• Hargittai, István (2003). The road to Stockholm: Nobel Prizes, science, and scientists. Oxford University Press. p. 240. Bibcode:2002rost.book.....H. ISBN 978-0-19-860785-4.
• "Hawking receives Einstein Award". Physics Today. 31 (4): 68. April 1978. Bibcode:1978PhT....31d..68.. doi:10.1063/1.2995004. Jocelyn Bell Burnell, researcher on the staff of the Mullard Space Science Laboratory of University College London, is the recipient of the 1978 J. Robert Oppenheimer Memorial Prize.
• "Herschel Medal Winners" (PDF). Royal Astronomical Society. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
• Hewish, A.; Bell, S. J.; Pilkington, J. D. H.; Scott, P. F.; Collins, R. A. (1968). "Observation of a Rapidly Pulsating Radio Source". Nature. 217 (5130): 709. Bibcode:1968Natur.217..709H. doi:10.1038/217709a0. S2CID 4277613. For the follow-up paper, see Pilkington et al. 1968.
• "IOP and Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell launch new fund to encourage greater diversity in physics". Institute of Physics. 2019. Archived from the original on 2020-08-02. Retrieved 2021-03-31.
• "Jansky Home Page". National Radio Astronomy Observatory. Retrieved 14 May 2009.
• "Jocelyn Bell Burnell Medal and Prize". Institute of Physics. Archived from the original on 29 October 2018. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
• "Jocelyn Bell Burnell profile". Contributions of 20th Century Women to Physics (CWP). Archived from the original on 7 July 2007. Retrieved 7 July 2007.
• "Jocelyn Bell Burnell retires as Dean". University of Bath. 16 August 2004. Archived from the original on 29 May 2007.
• Johnston, Colin (March 2007). "Pulsar Pioneer visits us" (PDF). Astronotes. Armagh Planetarium. pp. 2–3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 February 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2009.
• Judson, Horace (20 October 2003). "No Nobel Prize for Whining". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 August 2007.
• Kaplan, Sarah; Farzan, Antonia Noori (8 September 2018). "She made the discovery, but a man got the Nobel. A half-century later, she's won a $3 million prize". The Washington Post.
• Kaufman, Rachel (24 June 2016). "Dame Jocelyn Bell-Burnell: No asking, just telling". College Park, MD: Sigma Pi Sigma. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
• "Kleine grüne Männchen und pulsierende Sterne" [Pulsars and Little Green Men] (in German). Technical University Vienna. 11 November 2013. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
• "Les lauréats des prix de l'Académie des sciences attribués en 2018" [2018 Laureates of the French Academy of Sciences Prize] (in French). Académie des sciences. 24 July 2018. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
• "Lurgan College: School History". Archived from the original on 22 October 2016. Retrieved 7 February 2018.
• "The Magellanic Premium of the American Philosophical Society". American Philosophical Society. 2008. Archived from the original on 17 April 2009.
• McKie, Robin (2 October 2010). "Fred Hoyle: the scientist whose rudeness cost him a Nobel prize". The Guardian.
• McNaughton, Marion; Pegler, Linda; Arriens, Jan; Dale, Jonathan; Steven, Helen; Perks, Nick; Michaelis, Laurie (2007). Engaging with the Quaker Testimonies: a Toolkit. Quaker Books for Quaker Peace & Social Witness Testimonies Committee. ISBN 978-0-901689-59-7.
• Merali, Zeeya (6 September 2018). "Pulsar discoverer Jocelyn Bell Burnell wins $3-million Breakthrough Prize". Nature. 561 (7722): 161. Bibcode:2018Natur.561..161M. doi:10.1038/d41586-018-06210-w. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 30206391. S2CID 52191212.
• Ouellette, Jennifer (6 September 2018). "Jocelyn Bell Burnell wins $3 million prize for discovering pulsars". Ars Technica. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
• Pilkington, J. D. H.; Hewish, A.; Bell, S. J.; Cole, T. W. (1968). "Observations of some further Pulsed Radio Sources". Nature. 218 (5137): 126. Bibcode:1968Natur.218..126P. doi:10.1038/218126a0. S2CID 4253103. For the first paper (announcing the discovery), see Hewish et al. 1968.
• "President's medal recipients: Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell (full citation)". Institute of Physics. 2017. Archived from the original on 10 September 2017. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
• "Press Release: The 1974 Nobel Prize in Physics". Nobel Foundation. 15 October 1974. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
• "Professor Jocelyn Bell Burnell FRS – Spectrum of astronomy". The Royal Society. n.d. Archived from the original on 14 October 2006.
• "Queen's Birthday Honours 2007". University of Oxford. 18 June 2007. Archived from the original on 25 April 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2007.
• "QVMAG: Grote Reber Medal Winners: 2011 Winner: Professor Jocelyn Bell Burnell". QVMAG. Archived from the original on 6 January 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
• "Royal Astronomical Society Honours Stars of Astronomy and Geophysics" (Press release). Royal Astronomical Society. 8 January 2021.
• "Royal Medal". Royal Society. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
• Sample, Ian (6 September 2018). "British astrophysicist overlooked by Nobels wins $3m award for pulsar work". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
• Schilling, Govert (1 August 2017). "50 Years of Pulsars". BBC Sky at Night Magazine. Retrieved 27 January 2015 – via Alles over sterrenkunde.
• Shearing, Hazel (6 February 2020). "Seven female scientists you may not have heard of – but should know all about". BBC News. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
• "Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics Awarded to Jocelyn Bell Burnell for Discovery of Pulsars" (Press release). Breakthrough Prize. 6 September 2018. A Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics can be awarded by the Selection Committee at any time, and in addition to the regular Breakthrough Prize awarded through the ordinary annual nomination process. Unlike the annual Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, the Special Prize is not limited to recent discoveries.
• Tesh, Sarah; Wade, Jess (2017). "Look happy dear, you've just made a discovery". Physics World. 30 (9): 31–33. Bibcode:2017PhyW...30i..31T. doi:10.1088/2058-7058/30/9/35. ISSN 0953-8585.
• "Visiting star at college". Lurgan Mail. 13 February 2007. Archived from the original on 7 April 2019. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
• Walter, Claire (1982). Winners, the blue ribbon encyclopedia of awards. Facts on File. p. 438. ISBN 978-0-87196-386-4 – via Internet Archive.
• Warren, Andrew; Thackray, Lucy (25 July 2018). "The pioneer of pulsars pops into Parkes". CSIROscope. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
• Westly, Erica (6 October 2008). "No Nobel for You: Top 10 Nobel Snubs". Scientific American.
• "Woman's Hour – the Power List 2013". BBC. 1 January 1970. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
• "Women of the Year Prudential Lifetime Achievement Award". Womenoftheyear.co.uk. Archived from the original on 6 January 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2015.

Other websites

• Biographical article, indicating Bell Burnell's beliefs and personal life, from California State Polytechnic University NOVA project. (Accessed 24 December 2007).
• Irishwoman who discovered the "lighthouses of the universe" Irish Times profile.
• Counterbalance Library: Bell Burnell talk "Science and the Spiritual Quest" (24 Minutes) Archived 2009-03-27 at the Wayback Machine (Accessed 7 April 2010).
• University of Manchester – Jodcast Interview with Jocelyn Bell-Burnell