The First Neutron Star Discovery: Jocelyn Burnell, Aliens And The Lost Nobel Prize

What makes neutron stars so fascinating that they once fooled astronomers into thinking they were aliens? 

In this episode of Thinking On Paper, we sit down with Katia moskvitch, science journalist and author, to explore the wild discoveries and cosmic mysteries around pulsars and the densest objects in the universe.

Why were neutron stars only theoretical for decades, and who first imagined their existence? How did Jocelyn Bell Burnell, a then-PhD student in 1967, discover these cosmic lighthouses using a homemade radio array of wooden poles and copper wire—and why did her supervisor, not her, end up with the Nobel Prize?

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Cheers,

Mark & Jeremy

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