Jocelyn Bell Burnell

Jocelyn Bell Burnell
DBE FRS FRSE FRAS FInstP
Bell Burnell in 2009
Born
Susan Jocelyn Bell

(1943-07-15) 15 July 1943[1]
EducationThe Mount School, York
Alma mater
Known forDiscovering the first four pulsars[3]
Spouse
Martin Burnell
(m. 1968; div. 1993)
ChildrenGavin 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
FieldsAstrophysics
Institutions
ThesisThe Measurement of radio source diameters using a diffraction method (1968)
Doctoral advisorAntony Hewish[4][5][6]
Influences
  • Fred Hoyle Frontiers of Astronomy (1955)
  • Henry Tillott[7] (her school physics teacher)
Websitewww2.physics.ox.ac.uk/contacts/people/bellburnell

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".[9]

Her work was recognised by the award of the Nobel Prize in Physics to her thesis supervisor Antony Hewish[5][6] and to the astronomer Martin Ryle. Bell was excluded, despite having been the first to observe and precisely analyse the pulsars.[10]

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).[11][12]
  • J. Robert Oppenheimer Memorial Prize from the Center for Theoretical Studies, University of Miami (1978).[13][14]
  • Beatrice M. Tinsley Prize of the American Astronomical Society (1986).[15]
  • Herschel Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1989).[16]
  • Jansky Lectureship before the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (1995).[17]
  • Magellanic Premium of the American Philosophical Society (2000).[18]
  • Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) (March 2003).[19]
  • Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) (2004).[1]
  • William E. Gordon and Elva Gordon distinguished lecture at the Arecibo Observatory on 27 June 2006.[20]
  • The Grote Reber Medal at the General Assembly of the International Radio Science Union in Istanbul (19 August 2011)[21]
  • The Royal Medal of the Royal Society (2015).[22]
  • The Women of the Year Prudential Lifetime Achievement Award (2015)[23]
  • The Institute of Physics President's Medal (2017)[24]
  • Grande Médaille of the French Academy of Sciences (2018)[25]
  • Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics (2018)[26]

Honours

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.

References

Works cited

Other websites