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Jocelyn Bell Burnell
Jocelyn Bell Burnell · Victoria, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Person

Jocelyn Bell Burnell

b. 1943

British astrophysicist (born 1943)

Born
15 Jul 1943 · Lurgan

Life timeline

Their life from birth to death. On the timeline, world events of the time are shown faintly.

Showing 95 years
  1. 15 Jul 1943BornBorn in Lurgan
  2. 1973AwardAlbert A. Michelson Medal
  3. 1978AwardJ. Robert Oppenheimer Memorial Prize
  4. 1986AwardBeatrice M. Tinsley Prize
  5. 1989AwardHerschel Medal
  6. 1989AwardSwarthmore Lecture
  7. 1995AwardKarl G. Jansky Lectureship
  8. 1997AwardHonorary doctor of the University of Sussex
  9. 1999AwardEdinburgh Medal
  10. 2000AwardHonorary degree of the University of Leeds
  11. 2000AwardMagellanic Premium
  12. 2002 – 2004RolePresident of the Royal Astronomical Society
  13. 2003AwardFellow of the Royal Society
  14. 2004AwardFellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
  15. 2014 – 2018RolePresident of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
  16. 2018RoleChancellor
  17. 2022RoleActing president

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Meanwhile in the world

Major world events during their lifetime (1943 – today).

  1. 1945Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
  2. 1945 – 1946Nuremberg trials
  3. 19501950 FIFA World Cup
  4. 1950 – 1953Korean War
  5. 1953 – 1959Cuban Revolution
  6. 19541954 FIFA World Cup
  7. 1955 – 1975Vietnam War
  8. 1956Hungarian Revolution of 1956
  9. 1956Suez Crisis
  10. 19581958 FIFA World Cup
  11. 1959Antarctic Treaty System
  12. 19621962 FIFA World Cup
  13. 1962Cuban Missile Crisis
  14. 19661966 FIFA World Cup
  15. 1966 – 1976Cultural Revolution
  16. 1968Prague Spring
  17. 1969Apollo 11 Moon landing
  18. 19721972 Summer Olympics
  19. 19741974 FIFA World Cup
  20. 19781978 FIFA World Cup
  21. 1978 – 1979Iranian Revolution
  22. 1979 – 1989Soviet–Afghan War
  23. 1980 – 1988Iran–Iraq War
  24. 19841984 Summer Olympics
  25. 1985Schengen Agreement
  26. 19891989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre
  27. 1989Fall of the Berlin Wall
  28. 19901990 FIFA World Cup
  29. 1991Dissolution of the Soviet Union
  30. 19941994 FIFA World Cup
  31. 1994 – 1996First Chechen War
  32. 19981998 FIFA World Cup
  33. 2001 – 2021War in Afghanistan
  34. 2003 – 2011Iraq War
  35. 20042004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami
  36. 20062006 FIFA World Cup
  37. 20082008 Summer Olympics
  38. 2008Russo-Georgian War
  39. 20102010 Haiti earthquake
  40. 2010 – 2012Arab Spring

Biography

Dame Susan Jocelyn Bell Burnell (née Bell; born 15 July 1943) is a Northern Irish astrophysicist and radio astronomer who, while conducting research for her doctorate in 1967, discovered the first known pulsar. This discovery was recognized by the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1974, though she was not among its recipients.

Bell Burnell was president of the Royal Astronomical Society from 2002 to 2004, president of the Institute of Physics from October 2008 until October 2010, and interim president of the Institute following the death of her successor, Marshall Stoneham, in early 2011. She was Chancellor of the University of Dundee from 2018 to 2023.

In 2018, she was awarded the Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. Following the announcement of the award, she decided to use the $3 million (£2.3 million) prize money to establish a fund to help female, minority and refugee students to become research physicists. The fund is administered by the Institute of Physics.

In 2021, Bell Burnell became the second female recipient (after Dorothy Hodgkin in 1976) of the Copley Medal. In 2025, Bell Burnell's image was included on an An Post stamp celebrating women in STEM.

Text from the Wikipedia article Jocelyn Bell Burnell, CC BY-SA 4.0

About this information

Dates and life events come from this person’s Wikidata entry.

We only show events that the sources give a date for. Anything without a date is left out rather than guessed.