February 5, 2022
In February 1968, Jocelyn Bell Burnell and her advisor Anthony Hewish published their discovery of pulsars. A pulsar is a quickly spinning neutron star that emits beams of radiation from both of its poles. As the pulsar spins, the beam of radiation comes in and out of alignment with Earth. Bell Burnell noticed the pulsing, periodic radio emissions and coined the term pulsar.
Jocelyn Bell Burnell with radio telescope. Image credit: Daily Herald Archive/SSPL/Getty Images.