Abstract

Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, winner of the 2018 Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, is an accomplished scientist and champion for women in physics. As a graduate student in 1967, she co-discovered pulsars, a breakthrough widely considered one of the most important scientific advances of the 20th century. When the discovery of pulsars was recognized with the 1974 Nobel Prize in Physics, the award went to her graduate advisor. Undaunted, she persevered and became one of the most prominent researchers in her field and an advocate for women and other under-represented groups in physics.

During her distinguished career she has been president of both the Institute of Physics and the Royal Astronomical Society and is currently a Visiting Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Oxford and Chancellor of Scotland’s University of Dundee.

(Source: Perimeter Institute)