Crosspost: Women You Should Know—Jocelyn Bell Burnell

 Written By Dale Debakcsy

Darkened photo of astronomer Jocelyn Bell Burnell giving a talk at Inspirefest 2015.

Photo credit: Conor McCabe Photography

Sometimes the hardest thing about living in the universe is knowing about it. There is real and true terror to be faced in the indifferent march of the universe towards its inevitable dark close, and it takes a special type of person to stare into the void of our cosmic destiny on a daily basis and contemplate the mechanics of the vast machinery cooly plotting the complete demise of us, everything we’ve ever done, and everything we shall ever do. Psychologically, astronomers of the modern era have to be made of some pretty stern stuff, and how they cope with the magnitude of their subject matter is often as fascinating as their research, and few in this regard are as consistently compelling as Quaker astronomer Jocelyn Bell Burnell (b. 1943).

Bell Burnell has a gift for Taking Things In Stride that has served her well both in the contemplation of humanity’s grim chances in a hostile universe and during a life that, while serving up an exciting set of triumphs, has also dealt her more than her fair share of restrictive expectations. Her equanimity in the face of adversity is perhaps the result of her unique upbringing – she was the eldest sibling of a father whose family had Quaker roots going back to the seventeenth century and a mother who had been denied a higher education at the hands of the Great Depression.

Read the rest of Dale Debakcsy's article on the incredible astronomer, Jocelyn Bell Burnell, here: https://womenyoushouldknow.net/life-astronomer-jocelyn-bell-burnell/