A partial recompense
September 6, 2018 5:05 PM Subscribe
Jocelyn Bell has won the Breakthrough Prize Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell has won the Breakthrough prize, worth $3 million dollars, for discovering radio pulsars. 42 years after being slighted for 1974 Nobel prize in Physics, which went to two men, one of whom was her thesis supervisor but who did not discover pulsars, Burnell says she will donate the money to fund a scholarship for women and minorities who are interested in science.
Bonus sounds of millisecond radio pulsars for your mind emblowment.
This is fantastic. For the longest time, I assumed she was a man because the first "Jocelyn" I had heard of was a man. I wish I had realized it; I read a lot of books about astronomy as a girl and young woman, and I would have really liked to know that a woman was behind that discovery.
posted by Countess Elena at 6:04 PM on September 6, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by Countess Elena at 6:04 PM on September 6, 2018 [6 favorites]
I once went to a public lecture by Jocelyn Bell. Both her charisma and humility as a speaker were deeply impressing. The topic of the lecture was the genesis, evolution, and demise of stars. She closed the lecture with the words "We are all children of stars".
I admire and am not surprised that she chose to give away the money for the cause of the under-represented. It's a choice totally in her character.
posted by runcifex at 6:31 PM on September 6, 2018 [5 favorites]
I admire and am not surprised that she chose to give away the money for the cause of the under-represented. It's a choice totally in her character.
posted by runcifex at 6:31 PM on September 6, 2018 [5 favorites]
CP1919 or PSR B1919+21, aka the cover art for Unknown Pleasures
posted by Freelance Demiurge at 6:37 PM on September 6, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Freelance Demiurge at 6:37 PM on September 6, 2018 [4 favorites]
It has been suggested that I should have had a part in the Nobel Prize awarded to Tony Hewish for the discovery of pulsars. There are several comments that I would like to make on this:
First, demarcation disputes between supervisor and student are always difficult, probably impossible to resolve.
Secondly, it is the supervisor who has the final responsibility for the success or failure of the project. We hear of cases where a supervisor blames his student for a failure, but we know that it is largely the fault of the supervisor. It seems only fair to me that he should benefit from the successes, too.
Thirdly, I believe it would demean Nobel Prizes if they were awarded to research students, except in very exceptional cases, and I do not believe this is one of them.
Finally, I am not myself upset about it — after all, I am in good company, am I not!
Written in 1977.
One wonders if that is what she truly believed or what she thought she was expected to say.
posted by madajb at 6:46 PM on September 6, 2018 [5 favorites]
First, demarcation disputes between supervisor and student are always difficult, probably impossible to resolve.
Secondly, it is the supervisor who has the final responsibility for the success or failure of the project. We hear of cases where a supervisor blames his student for a failure, but we know that it is largely the fault of the supervisor. It seems only fair to me that he should benefit from the successes, too.
Thirdly, I believe it would demean Nobel Prizes if they were awarded to research students, except in very exceptional cases, and I do not believe this is one of them.
Finally, I am not myself upset about it — after all, I am in good company, am I not!
Written in 1977.
One wonders if that is what she truly believed or what she thought she was expected to say.
posted by madajb at 6:46 PM on September 6, 2018 [5 favorites]
One wonders if that is what she truly believed or what she thought she was expected to say.
She may have believed all of those things and it may have been what she thought she was expected to say, but note that none of the four things are actually "No, really, he made the breakthrough, so he deserves the credit."
posted by Etrigan at 6:56 PM on September 6, 2018 [22 favorites]
She may have believed all of those things and it may have been what she thought she was expected to say, but note that none of the four things are actually "No, really, he made the breakthrough, so he deserves the credit."
posted by Etrigan at 6:56 PM on September 6, 2018 [22 favorites]
Thank you for this - this is such great, great news. What an inspiration!
The Ars Technica article by Jennifer Ouellette about Jocelyn Bell Burnell and the Breakthrough Prize (whence I learned that "In addition to the regular awards, the selection committee is also free to award a Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics any time it wishes", which is awesome) is also worth a read.
I thought the name "Jocelyn Bell Burnell" sounded familiar, and sure enough - she's been on BBC radio a number of times:
link to The Life Scientific and some other related stuff
In Our Time: The Speed of Light
In Our Time: The Vacuum of Space
In Our Time: Black Holes
Desert Island Discs (or here)
Private Passions
video clips from Beautiful Minds
random TV clips
She's so great.
Thank you for posting this, Rufous-headed Towhee heehee!
posted by kristi at 10:06 PM on September 6, 2018 [5 favorites]
The Ars Technica article by Jennifer Ouellette about Jocelyn Bell Burnell and the Breakthrough Prize (whence I learned that "In addition to the regular awards, the selection committee is also free to award a Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics any time it wishes", which is awesome) is also worth a read.
I thought the name "Jocelyn Bell Burnell" sounded familiar, and sure enough - she's been on BBC radio a number of times:
link to The Life Scientific and some other related stuff
In Our Time: The Speed of Light
In Our Time: The Vacuum of Space
In Our Time: Black Holes
Desert Island Discs (or here)
Private Passions
video clips from Beautiful Minds
random TV clips
She's so great.
Thank you for posting this, Rufous-headed Towhee heehee!
posted by kristi at 10:06 PM on September 6, 2018 [5 favorites]
I wanted to post this! I hesitated because I briefly made her acquaintance while hanging around Oxford and didn't want to break any MeFi posting rules.
The Breakthrough Prize is relatively new, having been started in 2012 by a group of mostly technology investors including Sergey Brin of Google, Anne Wojcicki of 23andMe, and Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook. I'm honestly not sure what I make of their aim of becoming the "Oscars of Science", but it's not hard to agree that Professor Bell Burnell deserves the recognition.
posted by Eleven at 3:00 AM on September 7, 2018 [1 favorite]
The Breakthrough Prize is relatively new, having been started in 2012 by a group of mostly technology investors including Sergey Brin of Google, Anne Wojcicki of 23andMe, and Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook. I'm honestly not sure what I make of their aim of becoming the "Oscars of Science", but it's not hard to agree that Professor Bell Burnell deserves the recognition.
posted by Eleven at 3:00 AM on September 7, 2018 [1 favorite]
One wonders if that is what she truly believed or what she thought she was expected to say.
I think it is also worth considering just how embittered you could let yourself become if you were in the situation of not getting a Nobel like this. It would be so easy for every time something doesn't go your way professionally, you don't get the job you want, etc or even just to think about the doors that might have otherwise opened to be like a nail in your soul. I don't think I would have it in me to come back from that.
One of my housemates when we were both studying for our PhDs was being supervised be Prof. Bell Burnell and I knew quite a few people in her department. Everyone in the dept seemed to be of the opinion that she was a lovely person as well as a great academic. That's no mean feat.
posted by biffa at 3:25 AM on September 7, 2018 [7 favorites]
I think it is also worth considering just how embittered you could let yourself become if you were in the situation of not getting a Nobel like this. It would be so easy for every time something doesn't go your way professionally, you don't get the job you want, etc or even just to think about the doors that might have otherwise opened to be like a nail in your soul. I don't think I would have it in me to come back from that.
One of my housemates when we were both studying for our PhDs was being supervised be Prof. Bell Burnell and I knew quite a few people in her department. Everyone in the dept seemed to be of the opinion that she was a lovely person as well as a great academic. That's no mean feat.
posted by biffa at 3:25 AM on September 7, 2018 [7 favorites]
Per her Wikipedia entry, in 1977 she was an untenured researcher. I suspect that regardless of her feelings she understood what the cost would be of taking potshots at the men with power over her CV and professional development.
posted by at by at 6:01 AM on September 7, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by at by at 6:01 AM on September 7, 2018 [7 favorites]
Re: Bell Burnell's desire or otherwise for a Nobel, there is a rather delightful quote in the related Guardian article:
“I feel I’ve done very well out of not getting a Nobel prize,” she said. “If you get a Nobel prize you have this fantastic week and then nobody gives you anything else. If you don’t get a Nobel prize you get everything that moves. Almost every year there’s been some sort of party because I’ve got another award. That’s much more fun.”posted by aihal at 6:25 AM on September 7, 2018 [21 favorites]
I am a Quaker, and learned about this when someone shared it recently in my meeting. We were all extremely enthralled and inspired to learn that she gave away the monetary prize money to others due to her Quaker background.
More here about her Quaker background.
posted by mostly vowels at 5:16 PM on September 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
More here about her Quaker background.
posted by mostly vowels at 5:16 PM on September 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
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