Jocelyn Bell discovered pulsars in 1967, but her contributions were overshadowed when her PhD supervisor, Anthony Hewish, received the Nobel Prize in 1974. Despite initial lack of recognition, Bell became an advocate for women in science. In 2018, she received the Breakthrough Prize and donated her winnings to support underrepresented students in physics.
Updated 15 December 2025 Ever since the pioneering work of Frank Drake (1930-2022) way back in 1960, astronomers have been looking for radio signals from extraterrestrial civilisations but all SETI searches have failed to find anything. This could be because Earth-like planets containing complex life forms (such as ourselves) are rare in the Universe and only… Continue reading The Rare Earth hypothesis
Christmas is almost upon us. Once again I'm offering my e-books for free during the first five days of December! Just call me Father Christmas :-). "Is Anyone Out There?" is about the likelihood of there being extraterrestrial intelligent life. It is based on a number of posts from my blog. For readers based in the UK the… Continue reading A Christmas gift from Explaining Science 2017
Updated 14 December 2025 In 1967, a 24-year-old student from Cambridge University, Jocelyn Bell, was doing the research for her PhD. She was using a radio telescope to study radio waves emitted from compact astronomical objects known as quasars, and when she analysed the data she had collected, she noticed a signal which appeared to… Continue reading The discovery of pulsars 1967
On August 20, 1977, NASA launched Voyager 2 to explore the Solar System's outer planets, followed by Voyager 1. Both spacecraft made significant discoveries, including active volcanoes on Jupiter's moon Io and Titan's dense atmosphere with potential hydrocarbon lakes. They now send data from interstellar space and contain a golden record intended for any potential alien finders.
Explaining Science 