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recognizes that I did my most important work as a student.” The Breakthrough prizes were launched in 2012 and are funded by entrepreneurs includ- ing Google co-founder Sergey Brin. Awarded in fundamental physics, life and math- ematics, they are usually handed out in Decem-

DAVID HARTLEY/SHUTTERSTOCK DAVID ber, based on selections made after an open nomination process. But the selection commit- tee can decide to make special awards. Previ- ous special awards have been given to and to the Laser Interferometer Grav- itational-Wave Observatory collaboration for the discovery of gravitational waves. are dense stars, consisting mostly of neutrons, that rotate at a precise rate, emitting Jocelyn Bell Burnell discovered pulsars as a PhD student at the , UK. radiation as they spin. In 1967, Bell Burnell, then a PhD student at the University of Cambridge, UK, under astronomer , was analysing hundreds of metres of chart paper containing data collected by a in Cambridge when she noticed some mysterious discoverer recurring smudges. She was able to characterize these as signs of radio pulses emanating from a spinning star: the pulsar. “The discovery is a wins $3-million prize testament to her curiosity, her determination and her creativity,” says Mingarelli. Jocelyn Bell Burnell to use cash to promote diversity in . In 1974, Hewish shared the with fellow radio astronomer Martin BY ZEEYA MERALI an astrophysicist at the Flatiron Institute in Ryle, for pioneering research in . New City. “In addition to being both a Hewish was cited for his “decisive role in the ifty years after discovering pulsars — pioneer and a giant in the field, Bell Burnell is discovery of pulsars” — while Bell Burnell was compact rotating stars that emit beams the highest calibre role model — a champion overlooked. Bell Burnell herself has previously of radiation — astrophysicist Jocelyn for .” stated that she does not mind the oversight FBell Burnell has been awarded one of the most Bell Burnell, now at the University of because she understands that Nobel prizes are lucrative prizes in science: a US$3-million Oxford, UK, and the , not usually awarded to research students. Breakthrough prize. Thought by many to have UK, was “totally surprised” to learn about the Her discovery still rings out half a century been snubbed for a Nobel prize for the discov- prize, which was announced on 6 September. on, notes Mingarelli. For instance, earlier this ery, Bell Burnell, 75, has been recognized by “For once in my life, I was speechless,” she says. year, NASA scientists demonstrated the feasi- the Breakthrough committee with a special She is already in discussions with the national bility of using pulsars to navigate, with their award in fundamental physics both for her physics institutes in the United Kingdom and SEXTANT experiment on the International scientific achievements and for her “inspiring about using the prize money to create Space Station. The idea is that future robotic leadership” over the past five decades. PhD studentships for people from under- spacecraft could use the clockwork-like “I cannot think of a more deserving scien- represented groups in science. “Diversity is arrival times of X-rays emitted from pulsars tist to win this prize,” says Chiara Mingarelli, very important,” says Bell Burnell. “This also to triangulate their locations. ■

INFORMATION Google enters data ecosystem Dataset Search could be especially helpful to cross-disciplinary researchers.

BY DAVIDE CASTELVECCHI such as those for news and images — as well as Government agencies, scientific publishers, Google Scholar and Google Books — locates research institutions and individual researchers oogle has unveiled a search engine to files and databases according to how their maintain thousands of open-data repositories help researchers locate online data that owners have classified them. It does not read worldwide, containing millions of data sets. are freely available for use. The com- the content of the files themselves in the way But researchers who want to know what Gpany launched the service on 5 September, search engines do for web pages. types of data are available, or who hope to saying that it is aimed at “scientists, data jour- Experts say that it fills a gap and could locate data they know already exist, often nalists, data geeks, or anyone else”. contribute significantly to the success of the have to rely on word of mouth, says Natasha Dataset Search, now available alongside open-data movement, which aims to make Noy, a computer scientist at Google AI in Google’s other specialized search engines, data freely available for use and re-use. Mountain View, California.

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This problem is especially serious for the data ecosystem quickly prompted major those data available to others,” Kearns adds. early-career researchers who are not already players to fall in line and standardize their For Dataset Search to work, having the “plugged” into a network of professional metadata, says Mark Hahnel, chief executive of data owners’ collaboration was a crucial step. connections, Noy says. It’s also a downside the data-sharing company Figshare in London. Although the system might become more for those who do cross-disciplinary research (Figshare is operated by the Holtzbrinck Pub- sophisticated in the future, Google currently — for example, an epidemiologist who needs lishing Group, which also has a majority share has no plans to actually read the data or ana- access to climate data that could be relevant to in Nature’s publisher.) lyse them, as it does with web pages or images. the spread of a virus. “By November, all the universities we’re “A search tool like this one is only as good as working for had their stuff marked up,” Hahnel the metadata that data publishers are willing to CLASSIFIED SEARCH says. “I think this is a game changer for open provide,” Noy says. Noy and her Google colleague Dan Brickley data in the academia.” Like Google Scholar, Dataset Search first described a strategy for solving that Funding agencies sometimes mandate that currently offers no access for automated query- problem in a blogpost in January 2017 (see research data be made available, and they are ing and no application programming interface go.nature.com/2oounre). going to reach their ultimate goals only if the (API) — although the company says that it Typical search engines work in two main information is effectively recoverable, he says. might add that functionality in the future. stages. The first is to index the available pages “It legitimizes what the funders have been Noy says that as researchers begin to use by continuously trawling the Internet. The trying to do.” Dataset Search, Google will watch how they second is to rank those indexed pages, so that interact with it and use that information to when a user enters search terms, the engine AGENCY PARTNERSHIPS improve the search results. The company has can provide results in order of relevance. An early supporter of Google’s experiment was no current plans to monetize the service, she To aid search engines in indexing existing the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric says. data sets, Noy and Brickley wrote, those who Administration (NOAA). The agency’s remit As Dataset Search evolves, it might also own the data sets should ‘tag’ them, using a ranges from fisheries to the Sun’s corona, and become integrated with Google Scholar, so that standardized vocabulary called Schema.org, an its archives contain nearly 70,000 data sets — search results on a particular study could link to initiative founded by Google and three other including ship logs from the 1800s. The trove relevant data sets. ■ search-engine giants (Microsoft, Yahoo and adds up to more than 35 petabytes, comparable Yandex), and which Brickley manages. The to the content of 35,000 typical hard drives. Google team also developed a special algo- Google’s tool will help NOAA to meet its CORRECTION rithm for ranking data sets in search results. open-data mission, says NOAA’s chief data The Editorial ‘What is Life?’ (Nature 561, 6; Given Google’s dominance in web search- officer Edward Kearns in Asheville, North Car- 2018) misnamed Trinity College Dublin. ing, news that the company was moving into olina. “We want to explore new ways to make

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