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The First Detection of Binary Pulsar

Artist’s impression of a binary pulsar.
Artist’s impression of a binary pulsar. Image: Jodrell Bank Observatory, University of Manchester/Wikimedia

Pulsars—rapidly spinning stars that shoot beams of electromagnetic radiation from their highly magnetic poles—were first discovered in 1967. Researchers using the Arecibo Observatory in 1974 did one better by discovering the first binary pulsar, in which a pulsar orbits another star. The discovery earned Joseph Taylor and Russell Hulse the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physics.