Jocelyn Bell Burnell
Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell | |
---|---|
![]() Bell Burnell in 2009 | |
Born | Susan Jocelyn Bell 15 July 1943[4] |
Alma mater |
|
Known for | Discovering the first four pulsars |
Spouse | Martin Burnell (1968–1993; divorced) |
Children | Gavin Burnell |
Awards |
|
Scientific career | |
Fields | Astrophysics |
Institutions | |
Thesis | The Measurement of radio source diameters using a diffraction method. (1968) |
Doctoral advisor | Antony Hewish[1][2][3] |
Website | Official Website |
Dame Susan Jocelyn Bell Burnell DBE FRS FRSE FRAS (/bɜːrˈnɛl/; born 15 July 1943) is an astrophysicist from Northern Ireland who was credited with "one of the most significant scientific achievements of the 20th Century".[7] As a postgraduate student, she discovered the first radio pulsars in 1967.[8] The discovery was recognised by the award of the Nobel Prize in Physics to her thesis supervisor Antony Hewish[2][3] and to the astronomer Martin Ryle. Bell was excluded, despite having been the first to observe and precisely analyse the pulsars.[9]
The paper announcing the discovery of pulsars had five authors. Hewish's name was listed first, Bell's second. Hewish was awarded the Nobel Prize, along with Martin Ryle, without the inclusion of Bell as a co-recipient. Many prominent astronomers criticised this omission,[10] including Sir Fred Hoyle.[11][12] In 1977, Bell Burnell herself played down this controversy, saying, "I believe it would demean Nobel Prizes if they were awarded to research students, except in very exceptional cases, and I do not believe this is one of them."[13] The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, in their press release announcing the 1974 Nobel Prize in Physics,[14] cited Ryle and Hewish for their pioneering work in radio-astrophysics, with particular mention of Ryle's work on aperture-synthesis technique, and Hewish's decisive role in the discovery of pulsars.
She was President of the Royal Astronomical Society from 2002 to 2004, president of the Institute of Physics from October 2008 until October 2010, and was interim president following the death of her successor, Marshall Stoneham, in early 2011.
Background
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/88/Susan_Jocelyn_Bell_%28Burnell%29%2C_1967.jpg/170px-Susan_Jocelyn_Bell_%28Burnell%29%2C_1967.jpg)
Jocelyn Bell was born in Lurgan, Northern Ireland to M. Allison and G. Philip Bell.[5][4] Her father was an architect who had helped design the Armagh Planetarium,[15] and during visits she was encouraged by the staff to pursue astronomy professionally.[16] Young Jocelyn also discovered her father's books on astronomy.
She grew up in Lurgan and attended the Preparatory Department[a] of Lurgan College from 1948 to 1956,[5] where she, like the other girls, was not permitted to study science until her parents (and others) protested against the school's policy. Previously, the girls' curriculum had included such subjects as cooking and cross-stitching rather than science.[18]
She failed the eleven-plus exam and her parents sent her to the Mount School, York,[4] a Quaker girls' boarding school. There she was favourably impressed by her physics teacher, Mr. Tillott, and stated:
You do not have to learn lots and lots ... of facts; you just learn a few key things, and ... then you can apply and build and develop from those ... He was a really good teacher and showed me, actually, how easy physics was.[19]
Bell Burnell was the subject of the first part of the BBC Four 3-part series Beautiful Minds, directed by Jacqui Farnham.[20]
Academic career
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c9/Chandra-crab.jpg/220px-Chandra-crab.jpg)
She graduated from the University of Glasgow with a Bachelor of Science degree in Natural Philosophy (physics), with honours, in 1965 and obtained a PhD degree from the University of Cambridge in 1969. At Cambridge, she attended New Hall (now Murray Edwards College), and worked with Hewish and others to construct[b] the Interplanetary Scintillation Array to study quasars, which had recently been discovered.[c]
In July 1967, she detected a bit of "scruff" on her chart-recorder papers that tracked across the sky with the stars.[21] She established that the signal was pulsing with great regularity, at a rate of about one pulse every one and a third seconds. Temporarily dubbed "Little Green Man 1" (LGM-1) the source (now known as PSR B1919+21) was identified after several years as a rapidly rotating neutron star. This was later documented by the BBC Horizon series.[22]
She worked at the University of Southampton between 1968 and 1973, University College London from 1974 to 82 and the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh (1982–91). From 1973 to 1987 she was a tutor, consultant, examiner, and lecturer for the Open University.[23] In 1986, she became the project manager for the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Mauna Kea, Hawaii.[24] She was Professor of Physics in the Open University from 1991 to 2001. She was also a visiting professor in Princeton University in the United States and Dean of Science in the University of Bath (2001–04),[25] and President of the Royal Astronomical Society between 2002 and 2004.
Bell Burnell is currently Visiting Professor of Astrophysics in the University of Oxford, and a Fellow of Mansfield College.[26] She was President of the Institute of Physics between 2008 and 2010.[27] In February 2018 she was appointed Chancellor of the University of Dundee.[28]
In 2018, Bell Burnell visited Parkes, NSW, to deliver the keynote John Bolton lecture at the CWAS AstroFest event.[29][30]
Non-academic life
Bell Burnell is house patron of Burnell House at Cambridge House Grammar School in Ballymena. She has campaigned to improve the status and number of women in professional and academic posts in the fields of physics and astronomy.[31][32]
Quaker activities and beliefs
From her school days, she has been an active Quaker and served as Clerk to the sessions of Britain Yearly Meeting in 1995, 1996 and 1997. She delivered a Swarthmore Lecture under the title Broken for Life,[33] at Yearly Meeting in Aberdeen on 1 August 1989, and was the plenary speaker at the US Friends General Conference Gathering in 2000.[citation needed] She revealed her personal religious history and beliefs in an interview with Joan Bakewell in 2006.[34]
Bell Burnell served on the Quaker Peace and Social Witness Testimonies Committee, which produced Engaging with the Quaker Testimonies: a Toolkit in February 2007.[35] In 2013 she gave a James Backhouse Lecture which was published in a book entitled A Quaker Astronomer Reflects: Can a Scientist Also Be Religious?, in which Burnell reflects about how cosmological knowledge can be related to what the Bible, Quakerism or Christian faith states.[36]
Marriage
In 1968, soon after her discovery, Bell married Martin Burnell; the couple divorced in 1993 after separating in 1989. Her husband was a local government officer, and his career took them to various parts of Britain. She worked part-time for many years while raising her son, Gavin Burnell, who is a member of the condensed matter physics group at the University of Leeds.[37]
Nobel Prize
That Bell did not receive recognition in the 1974 Nobel Prize in Physics has been a point of controversy ever since. She helped build the Interplanetary Scintillation Array over two years[6] and initially noticed the anomaly, sometimes reviewing as much as 96 feet of paper data per night. Bell later claimed that she had to be persistent in reporting the anomaly in the face of scepticism from Hewish, who was initially insistent that it was due to interference and man-made. She spoke of meetings held by Hewish and Ryle to which she was not invited.[38] In 1977, she commented on the issue:
demarcation disputes between supervisor and student are always difficult, probably impossible to resolve. Secondly, it is the supervisor who has the final responsibility for the success or failure of the project. We hear of cases where a supervisor blames his student for a failure, but we know that it is largely the fault of the supervisor. It seems only fair to me that he should benefit from the successes, too. Thirdly, I believe it would demean Nobel Prizes if they were awarded to research students, except in very exceptional cases, and I do not believe this is one of them. Finally, I am not myself upset about it – after all, I am in good company, am I not![13]
Awards
- The Albert A. Michelson Medal of the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia (1973, jointly with Dr. Hewish).[39][40]
- J. Robert Oppenheimer Memorial Prize from the Center for Theoretical Studies, University of Miami (1978).[41][42]
- Beatrice M. Tinsley Prize of the American Astronomical Society (1986).[43]
- Herschel Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1989).[44]
- Jansky Lectureship before the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (1995).[45]
- Magellanic Premium of the American Philosophical Society (2000).[46]
- Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) (March 2003).[47]
- Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) (2004).[4]
- William E. Gordon and Elva Gordon distinguished lecture at the Arecibo Observatory on 27 June 2006.[48]
- The Grote Reber Medal at the General Assembly of the International Radio Science Union in Istanbul (19 August 2011)[49]
- The Royal Medal of the Royal Society (2015).[50]
- The Women of the Year Prudential Lifetime Achievement Award (2015)[51]
- The Institute of Physics President's Medal (2017)[52]
- Grande Médaille of the French Academy of Sciences (2018)[53]
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.[54]
- 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.[55]
- 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 Professor Dame Anne Glover.[7]
Works
- Burnell, S. Jocelyn (1989). Broken for Life. Swarthmore Lecture. London: Quaker Home Service. ISBN 978-0-85245-222-6.
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(help) - Riordan, Maurice; Burnell, S. Jocelyn (27 October 2008). Dark Matter: Poems of Space. Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. ISBN 978-1903080108.
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Notes
- ^ The Preparatory Department of Lurgan College closed in 2004,[17] the college becoming a selective grammar school for ages 14–19.
- ^ "...upon entering the faculty, each student was issued a set of tools: a pair of pliers, a pair of long-nose pliers, a wire cutter, and a screwdriver...", said during a public lecture in Montreal during the 40 Years of Pulsars conference, 14 August 2007
- ^ Interplanetary scintillation allows compact sources to be distinguished from extended ones.[citation needed]
Citations
- ^ Bell 1968.
- ^ a b Hewish et al. 1968, p. 709.
- ^ a b Pilkington et al. 1968, p. 126.
- ^ a b c d Who's Who 2017.
- ^ a b c Lurgan Mail 2007.
- ^ a b The Life Scientific 2011.
- ^ a b BBC Scotland 2014.
- ^ Cosmic Search Vol. 1.
- ^ Hargittai 2003, p. 240.
- ^ Westly 2008.
- ^ Judson 2003.
- ^ McKie 2010.
- ^ a b NYAS 1977.
- ^ Nobelprize.org 1974.
- ^ Johnston 2007, pp. 2–3.
- ^ Bertsch McGrayne 1998.
- ^ Lurgan College history.
- ^ Jocelyn Bell Burnell 2016.
- ^ Interview at NRAO 1995.
- ^ BBC 2011b.
- ^ The Open University.
- ^ BBC 2010.
- ^ Jocelyn Bell Burnell profile.
- ^ Notable Women 1997.
- ^ University of Bath 2004.
- ^ UoO 2007.
- ^ Institute of Physics: Council.
- ^ Univ of Dundee 2018.
- ^ Warren & Thackray 2018.
- ^ CWAS 2018.
- ^ Bell Burnell 2004, pp. 426–89.
- ^ Allan 2015.
- ^ Burnell 1989.
- ^ Bakewell 2010.
- ^ QPSW Testimonies Committe 2007, p. ?.
- ^ Bell Burnell 2013, p. 11.
- ^ Condensed Matter Physics Group 2010.
- ^ BBC 2011a.
- ^ Franklin Institute.
- ^ Fi.edu.
- ^ Walter 1982, p. 438.
- ^ AIoP 1978, p. 68.
- ^ Aas.org 1986.
- ^ RAS.
- ^ Jansky Home Page.
- ^ APS 2008.
- ^ The Royal Society.
- ^ Gold 2006.
- ^ QVMAG 2016.
- ^ Royal Society.
- ^ Womenoftheyear.co.uk.
- ^ Institute of Physics 2017.
- ^ Académie des sciences 2018.
- ^ Addley 2007.
- ^ BBC 1970.
Sources
- Addley, Esther (16 June 2007). "From Russia with gong". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
{{cite news}}
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(help) - 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.
{{cite news}}
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(help) - Bakewell, Joan (9 November 2010). "Interview with Jocelyn Bell Burnell". Belief. BBC. Archived from the original on 9 November 2010.
{{cite web}}
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(help) - "Beatrice M. Tinsley Prize". American Astronomical Society. Archived from the original on 30 April 2018. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
{{cite web}}
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suggested) (help) - "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.
- 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.
{{cite interview}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: interviewers list (link) - Bell Burnell, Jocelyn (2013). 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.
{{cite book}}
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(help) - 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.
{{cite journal}}
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(help) - 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. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1977.tb37085.x.
- 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. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.449485.
{{cite thesis}}
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(help) - Bertsch McGrayne, Sharon (1998). Nobel Prize women in science: their lives, struggles, and momentous discoveries (Rev. ed.). Secaucus, N.J.: Carol Pub. Group. ISBN 978-0806520254. OCLC 39633911.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - "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.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|dead-url=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - "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. 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.
- "The Franklin Institute Awards | the Franklin Institute Science Museum". Fi.edu. 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.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|dead-url=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - 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.
{{cite news}}
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(help) - Hargittai, István (2003). The road to Stockholm: Nobel Prizes, science, and scientists. Oxford University Press. p. 240. ISBN 978-0198607854.
{{cite book}}
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(help) - "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. Retrieved 27 December 2016.[permanent dead link]
- 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.
{{cite journal}}
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(help) - "Jansky Home Page". Retrieved 14 May 2009.
- "Jocelyn Bell Burnell". QuakersInTheWorld web portal (QITW). Retrieved 30 January 2018.
- "Jocelyn Bell Burnell". 24 June 2016. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
- "Jocelyn Bell Burnell profile". Contributions of 20th Century Women to Physics (CWP). Archived from the original on 7 July 2007. Retrieved 7 July 2007.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|dead-url=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - "Jocelyn Bell Burnell retires as Dean". University of Bath. 16 August 2004. Archived from the original on 29 May 2007.
- "Jocelyn Bell: the true star". Belfast Telegraph. 13 June 2007. Retrieved 7 February 2018.
- Johnston, Colin (March 2007). "Pulsar Pioneer visits us" (PDF). Astronotes. Armagh Planetarium. pp. 2–3. Retrieved 10 July 2009.
{{cite news}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - Judson, Horace (20 October 2003). "No Nobel Prize for Whining". New York Times. Retrieved 3 August 2007.
{{cite news}}
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(help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|newspaper=
(help) - "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". 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".
{{cite web}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - 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.
- 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.
{{cite journal}}
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(help) - "President's medal recipients: Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell (full citation)". Institute of Physics. 2017. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
- "Press Release: The 1974 Nobel Prize in Physics". Nobelprize.org. 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. 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.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|dead-url=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - "The Restless Universe: Some Highlights of Physics". OpenLearn. The Open University. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
- "Royal Medal". Royal Society. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
- "Visiting star at college". Lurgan Mail. 13 February 2007. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
- Walter, Claire (1982). Winners, the blue ribbon encyclopedia of awards. Facts on File. p. 438. ISBN 9780871963864.
{{cite book}}
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(help) - Warren, Andrew; Thackray, Lucy (25 July 2018). "The pioneer of pulsars pops into Parkes - CSIROscope". CSIROscope. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
{{cite web}}
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(help) - Westly, Erica (6 October 2008). "No Nobel for You: Top 10 Nobel Snubs". Scientific American.
{{cite magazine}}
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(help) - "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.
{{cite web}}
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External links
![]() | This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. (December 2015) |
Video
- Freeview video "Tick, Tick, Pulsating Star: How I Wonder What You Are?" A Royal Institution Discourse by the Vega Science Trust (accessed 24 December 2007).
- Four video clips in which Bell Burnell gives a brief answer to the following questions: Having made a monumental discovery in science, how does that affect one's later career? What was the process for discovering pulsars? Were you looking for them based on a theory, or were you trying to clarify a phenomenon? Where are your research interests focussed at the moment?What future discoveries do you expect in Astronomy?, BBC/Open University Masters of Science website; accessed 24 December 2007.
Audio
- Counterbalance Library: Bell Burnell talk "Science and the Spiritual Quest" (24 Minutes) (Accessed 7 April 2010).
- University of Manchester – Jodcast Interview with Jocelyn Bell-Burnell
Text
- Ferdinand V. Coroniti and Gary A. Williams (2006), "Jocelyn Bell Burnell" in Out of the Shadows: Contributions of 20th Century Women to Physics, Nina Byers and Gary Williams, ed., Cambridge University Press.
- UK Resource Centre for Women in Science Engineering Technology biographical webpage. (Accessed 24 December 2007).
- 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.
Transcripts
- Transcript of American Institute of Physics interview, aip.org; accessed 7 April 2016.
- 1943 births
- 20th-century American scientists
- 20th-century educators from Northern Ireland
- 20th-century Irish people
- 20th-century women scientists
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- Alumni of New Hall, Cambridge
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- Astronomers from Northern Ireland
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- Living people
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