Jocelyn Bell Burnell discovered the radio pulsar, a discovery that has been called one of the most important discoveries of the past 100 years. This discovery resulted in a Nobel Prize in 1974, but Bell Burnell did not receive the award. The award was given to Antony Hewish, her supervisor at the University of Cambridge (NPR).
She was recently awarded the Breakthrough Prize for her discovery and her contributions to physics since then. This prize comes with a $3 million award, which is the largest award for scientific recognition on the planet.
During a BBC interview, Jocelyn Bell Burnell said that she plans to donate the money to a good cause. She told BBC, "I don't want or need the money myself, and it seemed to me that this was perhaps the best use I could put to it."
We applaud her for contributing to our understanding of the cosmos, and for her generosity. We are happy that she is finally being recognized for her achievement, and that her story is being told.
- Vontoba Terry (@vontoba), Co-Founder of Urban Hydration
Photo: Jocelyn Bell Burnell
