Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell

Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell is one of the world’s most celebrated astrophysicists, renowned for her role in one of the most important astronomical discoveries of the 20th century.

Born in Northern Ireland, she discovered the first radio pulsars in 1967 while a postgraduate student at the University of Cambridge. Her painstaking analysis of radio telescope data revealed unusual, rapidly repeating signals from space, ultimately identified as coming from rapidly rotating neutron stars. The discovery transformed our understanding of the Universe and opened up an entirely new field of astrophysics.

Dame Jocelyn has since enjoyed a distinguished career in astronomy, holding senior academic and leadership positions and becoming an inspirational advocate for women and underrepresented groups in science. Her many international honours include the 2018 Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, worth $3 million, which she donated to support greater diversity in physics.

Her extraordinary career combines scientific discovery, curiosity, resilience and a lifelong passion for understanding our Universe.