Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell discovered pulsars as a graduate student in radio astronomy in Cambridge, opening up a new branch of astrophysics – work recognised by the award of a Nobel Prize to her supervisor. She has subsequently worked in many roles in many branches of astronomy, working part-time while raising a family.

She is now an Academic Visitor in Oxford, and Chancellor of the University of Dundee, and was (the first female) President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh – Scotland’s National Academy. Much in demand as a speaker and broadcaster, in her spare time she gardens, listens to choral music and is active in the Quakers. She has co-edited an anthology of poetry with an astronomical theme – ’Dark Matter; Poems of Space.