Which physicist discovered pulsars in 1967 while studying radio signals from space?

Jocelyn Bell Burnell discovered pulsars in 1967 while analyzing radio signals from space.

As a doctoral student at the University of Cambridge, Bell Burnell helped operate a large radio telescope built to study quasars. She noticed a regular, unusual signal in the chart recordings and initially nicknamed its source “LGM,” for “Little Green Men,” because its precision seemed extraordinary. The signal was soon identified as a rapidly rotating neutron star.

The first pulsar was designated CP 1919 and is now known as PSR B1919+21. Pulsars emit beams of radiation from their magnetic poles, producing pulses as they rotate. Bell Burnell’s supervisor Antony Hewish shared the 1974 Nobel Prize in Physics, while Bell Burnell did not receive that prize, a frequently discussed historical controversy.

She later became an important advocate for physics education and diversity in science. Pulsar timing is now used to study neutron stars, gravity, and, in some applications, gravitational waves.