Friend in Residence Jocelyn Bell Burnell, discoverer of the first radio pulsars known to modern science and the recipient of the 2018 Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, reflects on five and a half decades in the field and a lifetime seeking to be faithful.
In 1967, working as a postgraduate student, Jocelyn Bell Burnell discovered the first radio pulsars known to modern science – a key breakthrough in the development of radio astronomy, the study of celestial objects at radio frequencies. For this work, Burnell received the Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics in 2018.
Over her illustrious 55 year career, she has conducted research and taught at numerous universities and observatories, served as President of the Royal Astronomical Society, and President of the Institute of Physics. She is currently a Visiting Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Oxford, a Fellow of Mansfield College, and Chancellor of the University of Dundee.
Burnell is an active Quaker, having served as Clerk of Britain Yearly Meeting, and an internationally sought after speaker. She has delivered the Swarthmore Lecture in Britain, the Backhouse Lecture in Australia, and addressed the plenary at Friends General Conference here in the United States.
She will serve as Haverford’s first all virtual Friend in Residence from October 7–25, 2020 – visiting classes, giving research talks, meeting with students, and speaking about how her spiritual and scientific lives co-exist.