There’s a great way to top of a joyous day’s shopping in Dublin city centre - Christmas Lecture by Discoverer of Pulsars Probably the world’s greatest female astronomer, Irishwoman Professor Jocelyn Bell-Burnell will give Astronomy Ireland’s Christmas Public Lecture, entitled “Women in Astronomy”, at Trinity College Dublin, on Monday 11 December at 8:00pm. The talk will be given in the Physics Building, near the Westland Row and Lincoln Place entrances. Astronomy is a science where many women made an early and valuable contribution. In the early 1800s, Caroline Herschel, sister of William Herschel who discovered Uranus, was herself one of the world’s leading comet discoverers, bagging 25 of them in as many years. Later that century, Annie Jump Cannon began to revolutionised the system by which we classify stars. Her system, which was adopted internationally in 1911, is essentially unchanged today. The foremost woman astronomer of recent years is Jocelyn Bell-Burnell, the discoverer of pulsars (1967). She was controversially passed over for the 1974 Nobel Prize, which was awarded instead to her PhD supervisor. Prof. Bell-Burnell is unusual in that she has at one time or another been at the forefront of almost every branch of astronomy, unlike most astronomers who specialise early, and stick with their chosen field. Most recently, she officiated at the meeting of the International Astronomical Union that removed Pluto’s planetary status (see www.astronomy.ie/lecture0612.html ) In 1967 Prof. Bell-Burnell was a PhD student, working with an unusual radio telescope consisting of a clothesline array of wires covering 1.5 hectares of fields near Cambridge. With this she discovered a strange pulsing radio signal from outer space, that for a while seemed to be originate from an intelligent source - "We did not really believe that we had picked up signals from another civilisation, but obviously the idea had crossed our minds and we had no proof that it was an entirely natural radio emission. It is an interesting problem - if one thinks one may have detected life elsewhere in the universe how does one announce the results responsibly? Who does one tell first?" The signal turned out to come from a rapidly spinning condensed star, what we now call a ‘pulsar’; but back then these bizarre objects were unknown to science. For the discovery, Bell-Burnell was passed over for the 1974 Nobel Prize for Physics, as she had not completed her PhD at the time of her discovery. It was awarded instead to her PhD supervisor, Antony Hewish, even though he acknowledged her as the true discoverer. In the Astronomy Ireland Christmas lecture entitled “Women in Astronomy” Professor Bell-Burnell pays tribute to the largely unacknowledged contribution of women to our understanding of the universe. Speaker Professor Jocelyn Bell-Burnell Title “Women in Astronomy” Venue Physics Building, Trinity College Dublin. Date Monday 11 December, 8:00pm Admission €5 (€3 for members and concessions) For general info (including a map to locate the venue) go to our website – www.astronomy.ie ---ends--- ADVANCE NOTICE: Our NEW YEAR Lecture on Jan. 8 will be given by Scotland’s Astronomer Royal "Black Holes and White Rabbits" By Professor John Brown www.astronomy.ie/lecture200701.html ASTRONOMY IRELAND - for telescopes and information call (01) 847 0777 www.astronomy.ie