Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell

by Lu Szuhyta

To meet and interact person-to-person with someone venerated for a milestone discovery in the history of Astronomy, is not something you’d ordinarily expect to do, but this is what a number of us were given the privilege of doing on the evening of Wednesday 15 October, at Sydney Observatory when Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell accepted an invitation to be interviewed by a staff member of the Observatory, followed by questions from the live audience.

Lu Szuhyta (left) with Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell (seated) at Sydney Observatory, 15 October, 2025. Photo E. Cocking.

Dame Jocelyn came to Australia to give the annual Stibbs lecture at Sydney University and also to receive an honorary DSc from the university for her eminent contributions to the field of astrophysics, advocacy of under-represented students in the STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine) disciplines and as an inspirational role model for women in science.  She is credited for the discovery of pulsars while still a student, for which her supervisor controversially received the Nobel Prize.

She has since won many awards, one of which in particular she has used to promote STEMM studies, particularly with respect to encouraging women.

Listening to her speak gave us direct personal insight into how she made her discovery of pulsars and she generously expanded on this in her response to questions from the audience.  

In answer to a question as regards whether she had any ‘tips’ for young people, especially girls, as regards developing their resilience with respect to obstacles they would encounter during their careers, she said she had known from a young age what she wanted to do, and for her it was a matter of being determined and persistent - that is, not being discouraged or distracted from what she wanted to do.

Inspirational advice from a very inspirational lady. 

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