Physics Meetup

I have a very distinct memory of how I first learned about Jocelyn Bell Burnell. I was still in highschool, stuck in my bedroom in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. I have signed up for yet another astronomy webinar and was just waiting for the host to start the meeting. I guess that was one of the silver linings of the pandemic–science talks have become more accessible for many people across the world.

The host promptly introduced the speaker. Jocelyn Burnell was the one who discovered pulsars in 1967. I barely knew anything about pulsars. As I listened to Jocelyn talk about pulsars– rapidly spinning neutron stars that emit pulses of radiation at regular intervals (“pulsating stars”)–I found myself asking a question to no one in particular, “why doesn’t she have a Nobel Prize?” Apparently, this was a question that had already sparked controversy in the scientific community. I did some Googling after the webinar. It turns out that the discovery of pulsars was recognized with a Nobel Prize, it just wasn’t awarded to Jocelyn. I think I only began to understand the real implications of being a woman in science during this time.

Fast forward to a few years later, when Jocelyn was giving her first public (online) lecture in the Philippines and I was given the most wonderful opportunity to not only make her art token, but also deliver a student response speech following her presentation. My highschool self would never have believed it!

Then there was Roger Freedman, one of the authors of the notorious University Physics textbook. It was the very book that helped me survive my high school physics exams and made physics less intimidating for me. Who would've thought I’d get to make art for him one day?

Forever thankful to our Physics Meetup team <33