Bell Burnell's image was included on an An Post stamp celebrating women in STEM
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Jocelyn Bell Burnell
Dame Susan Jocelyn Bell Burnell is a Northern Irish physicist who, while conducting research for her doctorate, discovered the first radio pulsars in 1967. This discovery later earned the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1974, but she was not among the awardees.
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science · Northern Irish physicist (born 1943) · astronomer · astrophysicist · physicist · also Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Jocelyn Bell, Jocelyn Bell Burnel, Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Susan Jocelyn Bell, Dame Susan Jocelyn Bell Burnell
Born 15 July 1943 · Q233974
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Dame Jocelyn Bell-Burnell BBC Radio4 The Life Scientific 25 Oct 2010 b016812j
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2025· 1 entry
2024· 1 entry
Was awarded the Hawking Fellowship by the Cambridge Union in the University of Cambridge
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2023· 2 entries
Awarded Richtmyer Memorial Lecture Award (2023).
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Was awarded the Royal Irish Academy's Cunningham Medal and the 2022 Prix Jules Janssen from the Société astronomique de France
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2022· 3 entries
Awarded Prix Jules Janssen (2022).
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Career landmark: acting president (2022–2022).
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Received the Matteucci Medal by the Accademia nazionale delle scienze, Italy
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2021· 5 entries
Won Karl Schwarzschild Medal (2021).
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Won Copley Medal (2021).
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Awarded Esther Hoffman Beller Lectureship (2021).
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Bell Burnell became the second female recipient (after Dorothy Hodgkin in 1976) of the Copley Medal
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In a 2021 online lecture at the University of Bedfordshire, Bell Burnell reflected on her first experience returning to the observatory wearing an engagement ring.
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2020· 5 entries
Awarded Honorary Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales (2020).
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Was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales
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Was elected a Legacy Fellow of the American Astronomical Society
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Was included by the BBC in a list of seven important but little-known British female scientists
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Was made an Honorary Fellow of Trinity College Dublin
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2019· 2 entries
Awarded honorary doctor of the Willamette University (2019).
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Was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Bath
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2018· 6 entries
Awarded Grand Prize of the French Academy of Science (2018).
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Awarded Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics (2018).
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Was awarded the Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics
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Was awarded the Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, worth three million dollars (£2
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Bell Burnell visited Parkes, NSW, to deliver the keynote John Bolton lecture at the Central West Astronomical Society (CWAS) AstroFest event
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Career landmark: chancellor (2018).
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2017· 2 entries
Awarded honorary doctor of the University of Valencia (2017).
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Won President's Medal (2017).
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2016· 3 entries
Awarded honorary doctorate from the University of Alberta (2016).
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Was elected an International member of the American Philosophical Society
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The Institute of Physics renamed their award for early-career female physicists the Jocelyn Bell Burnell Medal and Prize
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2015· 3 entries
Won Royal Medal (2015).
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Won Gold medal of the Spanish National Research Council (2015).
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Awarded honorary doctorate from the McGill University (2015).
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2014· 2 entries
Awarded BBC 100 Women (2014).
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Career landmark: President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (2014–2018).
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2013· 2 entries
Bell Burnell was elected Pro-Chancellor of Trinity College, Dublin
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Gave a James Backhouse Lecture which was published in a book entitled A Quaker Astronomer Reflects: Can a Scientist Also Be Religious
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2012· 2 entries
Awarded Sven Berggren prize (2012).
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Was elected an Honorary Member of the Royal Irish Academy (HonMRIA)
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2010· 1 entry
Awarded Michael Faraday Prize (2010).
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2009· 1 entry
Awarded honorary doctorate presented by The Open University (2009).
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2007· 3 entries
Awarded honorary doctor of Harvard University (2007).
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Awarded Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (2007).
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Awarded honorary doctor of Durham University (2007).
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2004· 1 entry
Awarded Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (2004).
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2003· 1 entry
Awarded Fellow of the Royal Society (2003).
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2002· 1 entry
Career landmark: President of the Royal Astronomical Society (2002–2004).
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2000· 2 entries
Awarded Magellanic Premium (2000).
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Awarded honorary degree of the University of Leeds (2000).
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1999· 2 entries
Won Edinburgh Medal (1999).
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Was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to Astronomy and promoted to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 2007
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1997· 1 entry
Awarded honorary doctor of the University of Sussex (1997).
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1995· 1 entry
Awarded Karl G. Jansky Lectureship (1995).
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1989· 2 entries
Awarded Swarthmore Lecture (1989).
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Won Herschel Medal (1989).
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1986· 2 entries
Awarded Beatrice M. Tinsley Prize (1986).
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Became the project manager for the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, a position she held until 1991
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1978· 1 entry
Awarded J. Robert Oppenheimer Memorial Prize (1978).
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1977· 1 entry
Bell Burnell commented:I believe it would demean Nobel Prizes if they were awarded to research students, except in very exceptional cases, and I do not believe this is one of them
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1973· 1 entry
Won Albert A. Michelson Medal (1973).
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1969· 1 entry
Studied at Murray Edwards College, Doctor of Philosophy (1965–1969).
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1968· 2 entries
Between the discovery of the second and third pulsar, Bell became engaged to Martin Burnell and they married soon after; the couple divorced in 1993 after separating in 1989
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In 1968, between the discovery of the second and third pulsar, Bell became engaged to Martin Burnell and they married soon after; the couple divorced in 1993 after separating in 1989.
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1965· 2 entries
Studied at University of Glasgow (1960–1965).
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Graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Natural Philosophy (physics), with honours, and then New Hall, Cambridge, where she gained a PhD in 1969
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1954· 1 entry
Studied at The Mount School (York) (1954).
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1943· 1 entry
Born 1943-07-15.
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