Jocelyn Bell Burnell

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Jocelyn Bell Burnel, born July 15, 1943 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, is most famously known for her discovery of pulsars.

As a Ph.D. student at the University of Cambridge studying radio astronomy, Bell Burnel detected a rapid set of pulses occurring in continuing intervals on a radio telescope that she helped build during her time as a Ph.D. student. These pulses turned out to be pulsars. And with the discovery of pulsars, the existence of rapidly spinning neutron starts had its first direct piece of evidence.

Scientific Career

Jocelyn Bell Burnell earned her bachelor's degree in physics in 1965 from the University of Glasgow. She than went on to earn a Ph.D. in radio astronomy from the University of Cambridge in 1969.

Positions held

Research Council Fellow, University of Southampton, England, 1968-1970 Professor at University of Southampton, England, 1970-1973 Professor at Open University, 1973-1987 Professor at University of College London, 1974-1982 Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, 1982-1991 Dean of science at the University of Bath, 2001-2004 Commander of the Order of the British Empire, 1999 President of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2002-2004 President of the Institute of Physics, 2008-2010

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References

http://www.biography.com/people/jocelyn-bell-burnell-9206018#synopsis http://cwp.library.ucla.edu/Phase2/Burnell,_Jocelyn_Bell@841234567.html http://www.irishtimes.com/news/science/irishwoman-who-discovered-the-lighthouses-of-the-universe-1.443538 http://www.britannica.com/biography/Jocelyn-Bell-Burnell