Jocelyn Bell Burnell Quotes

Jocelyn Bell Burnell

Profession : Scientist

Birth : July 15, 1943

I'm one of the few women in science. I have pioneered that. One of the things I worry about is what that pioneering has done to me. I have had to fight quite hard most of the way through life.

Jocelyn Bell Burnell

Women of my generation who've stayed in science have done it by playing the men at their own game.

Jocelyn Bell Burnell

If it wasn't for the stars, we would not be here.

Jocelyn Bell Burnell

Some of the hydrogen in your body comes from the Big Bang, and when you see a kid walking down the street with a helium balloon, you can say, 'There goes some of the primordial universe.'

Jocelyn Bell Burnell

Science is a quest for understanding.

Jocelyn Bell Burnell

When I started secondary school, it was assumed that the girls would do domestic science and the boys would do science, and I wasn't too happy with that.

Jocelyn Bell Burnell

When I got engaged to be married, it was assumed that I would quit science and be a housewife. It was considered shameful if a married woman had to work - it implied that her husband couldn't earn enough to keep her.

Jocelyn Bell Burnell

I've enjoyed being a single person, particularly because I'm travelling a lot. It would be hard to maintain a relationship - so I've really not tried.

Jocelyn Bell Burnell

We live inside our universe and cannot get a bird's-eye view of it from outside. And we cannot even see all of our universe. Distant parts of it are expanding away from us so fast that they are invisible; they go faster than the speed of light. Having bigger telescopes to see fainter stars will not help us here: invisible is truly invisible.

Jocelyn Bell Burnell

I may not have got the Nobel Prize, but I've won countless other awards, including 'Most Inspirational Living Woman Scientist.'

Jocelyn Bell Burnell

We all have fundamental beliefs of one sort or another, and it is very threatening if somebody is saying they're wrong.

Jocelyn Bell Burnell

It's now widely recognised that a diverse research group is usually stronger, more creative, and more robust and flexible. Such a group usually copes better in a downturn.

Jocelyn Bell Burnell

I became conscious in later life that I had been given an education that enabled me to do all kinds of jobs, but often, jobs weren't open to me.

Jocelyn Bell Burnell

The more diverse a research group or a business, the more robust it is, the more flexible it is, and the better it succeeds.

Jocelyn Bell Burnell

Solar storms cause power outages. They pose a hazard to satellites. They might interfere with your GPS or send your compass a couple of degrees off course. But I don't think solar storms are a life-threatening event.

Jocelyn Bell Burnell

Once a star dies, it's gone forever. There are no new stars to take its place. Eventually, there will be no stars, and the universe will turn black. That really will be the end.

Jocelyn Bell Burnell

I know from another pulsar astronomer who won the Nobel that you get no peace. You're asked about every subject under the sun. It quite wrecks your life.

Jocelyn Bell Burnell

I believe it would demean Nobel Prizes if they were awarded to research students, except in very exceptional cases.

Jocelyn Bell Burnell

Throughout my working life, I've been either one of very few women or the most senior woman in the place.

Jocelyn Bell Burnell

The Sun's magnetic field reverses every 11 years. There have been a quarter of a million reversals since our predecessor, Homo Habilis, emerged, and they haven't killed us yet.

Jocelyn Bell Burnell