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How Jocelyn Bell once made a discovery that changed the field of astronomy

By Berly McCoy,
Regina G. Barber, Rebecca Ramirez
Published February 26, 2025 at 11:00 AM CST
At the center of this image made by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory is a very young and powerful pulsar, known as PSR B1509-58, or B1509 for short.
NASA/CXC/SAO/P.Slane, et al.
At the center of this image made by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory is a very young and powerful pulsar, known as PSR B1509-58, or B1509 for short.

In 1967 Jocelyn Bell Burnell made a discovery that revolutionized the field of astronomy. She detected the radio signals emitted by certain dying stars called pulsars.

This encore episode: Jocelyn's story.

Scientist in Residence Regina G. Barber talks to Jocelyn about her winding career, her discovery and how pulsars are pushing forward the field of astronomy today.

Have cosmic queries and unearthly musings? Contact us at shortwave@npr.org. We might open an intergalactic case file and reveal our findings in a future episode.

Listen to Short Wave on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.

This episode was produced by Berly McCoy, edited by Rebecca Ramirez and fact checked by Rachel Carlson. The audio engineer was Natasha Branch.

Copyright 2025 NPR

Tags
History National StoriesTop StoriesAstronomySpace
Berly McCoy
Kimberly (Berly) McCoy (she/her) is an assistant producer for NPR's science podcast, Short Wave. The podcast tells stories about science and scientists, in all the forms they take.
Regina G. Barber
Regina G. Barber is Short Wave's Scientist in Residence. She contributes original reporting on STEM and guest hosts the show.
Rebecca Ramirez
Rebecca Ramirez (she/her) is the founding producer of NPR's daily science podcast, Short Wave. It's a meditation in how to be a Swiss Army Knife, in that it involves a little of everything — background research, finding and booking sources, interviewing guests, writing, cutting the tape, editing, scoring ... you get the idea.