Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell

Dame Bell Burnell was born on July 15th in 1943 in Belfast, of women in science. Following on from her key role in the Northern Ireland and received her early education there. discovery of pulsars during her Ph.D., she has continued to Her interest in astronomy was sparked at an early age as her make many valuable contributions to Astronomy and father was an architect for the Armagh Observatory and she Astrophysics through her various academic and spent much of her time there as a child. She attended administrative roles in universities and research institutes grammar school in Lurgan College where she was horrified worldwide. that the boys were brought to the science labs and the girls were sent to study domestic science, a common experience She is very involved in teaching and advancing the public in Irish schools in the past. After the intervention of her understanding of physics and astronomy and is much in parents, she was eventually allowed to join the boys in the demand as a speaker and broadcaster. She is also science lab. She studied physics at the University of Glasgow passionate about the need for more women in science and, and was awarded a B.Sc. in Physics in 1965. She in her broadcasts and articles, constantly encourages subsequently attended the University of Cambridge where women to consider a career in science, particularly in she completed a Ph.D. in Radio Astronomy in 1969 under physics. Her many contributions have been recognized the supervision of Antony Hewish. During her doctoral through numerous honours and awards which began to studies, she built a radio telescope for tracking quasars accrue just after her Ph.D. award. She was first elected as a which she has described as “big, big things like galaxies, but fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1969 and has they are incredibly bright and send out a lot of radio waves”. served as its Vice President. She received the Beatrice M. She adopted a very hands-on approach to building the Tinsley Prize from the American Astronomical Society in telescope which involved a lot of banging of stakes into the 1987 and the Herchel Medal from the Royal Astronomical ground and connecting miles of copper wire. In her search Society in 1987. She was awarded a Commander of the for quasars, she had to scan through literally miles of paper British Empire (CBE) in 1999 and a Dame of the British printouts. While doing this, she noticed some unusual Empire (DBE) in 2007. Her many awards include the signals, which she called “scruff”, which turned out to be Michelson Medal (1973), the Oppenheimer Prize (1978), and from a new source, a pulsating radio star or pulsar. This was the Grote Reber Medal (2011). She was elected a Fellow of the first observation of a pulsar, which was later identified the Royal Society in 2003 and the list goes on! She was the as a rapidly rotating neutron star and which opened up a first female president of the Institute of Physics, a position new branch of Astrophysics. This important work was which she held from 2008 to 2010. In addition to these published in Nature in 1968 and led to her supervisor, awards, she holds honorary degrees from numerous Antony Hewish, being later awarded the Nobel Prize in universities in the UK as well as from Trinity College here in 1974, jointly with Martin Ryle. Dublin.

After her marriage in 1968, she accompanied her husband Dame Jocelyn has been described as “a gentlewoman with a to various locations around the UK during which time she lyrical Irish-Scottish brogue”. She is very modest and has continued to forge a career in astronomy, working part-time suggested that her discovery of pulsars had a lot to do with in the early years, while raising their son. Unlike most luck. She is a world-class scientist, is Irish-born and makes astronomers who concentrate on a particular part of the frequent visits to Ireland, the most recent giving the final electromagnetic spectrum, Dame Jocelyn worked on address at Inspirefest 2015 on June 19th in Dublin. Her astronomical emissions from a wide range of spectral areas scientific achievements and her passion for, and which spanned gamma ray, x-ray as well as radio astronomy contributions to, science communication and the hence gaining an extraordinary breadth of knowledge and advancement of women in science, resonate well with the experience. During her career, she has used telescopes culture, values and ethos of this university, and merit the which were flown on high altitude balloons, launched in award of the highest honour that Dublin City University can rockets, carried on satellites as well as many ground-based bestow. instruments from Cambridgeshire to Hawaii. A Uachtaráin, I ask you to confer on Jocelyn Bell Burnell the Throughout her career, she has held many academic degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Honoris Causa). positions in the UK, for example at the University of Southampton, Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Royal Observatory, Edinburgh and at the Open University. She was also a Visiting Professor at Princeton University in the US. She is currently Visiting Professor of Astrophysics in the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Mansfield College.

Dame Jocelyn has made significant contributions, not only to the field of Astronomy and Astrophysics, but also to science communication and outreach and to the promotion