Level 2

Can You Believe It? When they were not sure what caused the signals they detected, Jocelyn Bell and her college advisor Dr. Anthony Hewish designated the new sources of radio signal they had detected "LGM" for "Little Green Men". They thought it might be beacons from alien sources!

(Susan) Jocelyn Bell, "the woman who discovered pulsars", was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland on July 15, 1943. She grew up near the Armagh Observatory where her father was an architect. Both her family and members of the Armagh Observatory staff encouraged her early interest in astronomy. Jocelyn Bell’s parents very strongly believed in educating women. When she failed the examination required for students wanting to pursue higher education in British schools, they sent her to a boarding school to continue her education.

In 1965, Jocelyn Bell earned a B.S. degree in physics from the University of Glasgow. Later that same year she began work on her Ph.D. at Cambridge University. It was while she was a graduate student at Cambridge, working under the direction of Antony Hewish, that Jocelyn Bell discovered pulsars.

Bell’s first two years at Cambridge were spent assisting in the construction of an 81.5-megahertz radio telescope that was to be used to track quasars. The telescope went into operation in 1967. It was Jocelyn Bell’s job to operate the telescope and to analyze the 400 feet of chart paper produced by the telescope every four days. After several weeks of analysis, Bell noticed some unusual markings on the chart paper. These markings were made by a source of radio signals too fast and regular to be a quasar. Although the source’s signal took up only about half an inch of the 400 feet of chart paper, Jocelyn Bell recognized its importance. The first pulsar had been detected!

In February of 1968 news of the discovery made by Jocelyn Bell was published in the journal Nature. Further studies by groups of astronomers around the world identified the signals as coming from rapidly rotating neutron stars. These objects, first noticed by Jocelyn Bell, became known as pulsars. The term pulsar is an abbreviation for pulsating radio star or rapidly pulsating radio sources.

Jocelyn Bell received her Ph.D. in radio astronomy from Cambridge University in 1968. She married during that same year and changed her name to Burnell. Since leaving Cambridge in 1968, Dr. Bell-Burnell has studied the sky in almost every region of the electromagnetic spectrum. She has received many honors and awards for her contributions to science. She presently heads the physics department at Open University in England.

Did You Know?

In 1974, the Nobel Prize in physics was jointly awarded to astronomers Antony Hewish and Sir Martin Ryle. Antony Hewish was honored for the discovery of pulsars. Many have argued that Jocelyn Bell-Burnell should have shared that honor.

Question: How many inches of chart paper were being analyzed by Jocelyn Bell when she noticed something unusual in the inch space produced by the first pulsar she discovered?

Answer: 4,800 inches. 1 foot = 12 inches; 400 feet = 4,800 inches

Jocelyn Bell Burnell Level 1

Cool! Jocelyn Bell Burnell was still a student when she discovered pulsars!

Jocelyn Bell was born in 1943. She was born in Northern Ireland. Her father was an architect who loved to read all types of books. Jocelyn would often borrow her father’s library books. One day she borrowed some books about astronomy. After reading them, she knew she would grow up to become an astronomer.

Jocelyn Bell went to a boarding school in England from 1956 until 1961. Afterward, she earned a B.S. degree in physics at the University of Glasgow. In 1965 she became a graduate student at Cambridge University. While she was a student at Cambridge she discovered the first four pulsars.

During her first two years at Cambridge, Jocelyn Bell helped build a huge radio telescope. The telescope was so big that it covered over 4 acres of land. 57 tennis courts could fit on the amount of land covered by the telescope. In 1967, Jocelyn began to operate the telescope and study the information the telescope gave. Information from the telescope was in the form of lines, or markings, on a strip of paper. Jocelyn Bell had to study miles and miles of the paper strips. She noticed a small area of the lines that were different from the others. Jocelyn Bell had discovered the signals from a pulsar!

Jocelyn Bell received her Ph.D. in radio astronomy in 1968. She married and had one son. Dr. Bell-Burnell is now the head of the physics department at the Open University in England. She has received many medals, awards, and honors for her work in astronomy.

Did you know?

Astronomers have discovered more than 400 pulsars. Some astronomers believe that hundreds of thousands more exist in our Galaxy.

Question:

How do we know that Jocelyn Bell-Burnell is a good observer?

Answer:

She studied the markings on miles of paper strips. She was able to pick out one small area of markings that were different.