Funny that Jocelyn Bell Burnell herself argued that she shouldn't have received the Nobel prize (I think she should have):
> It has been suggested that I should have had a part in the Nobel Prize awarded to Tony Hewish for the discovery of pulsars. There are several comments that I would like to make on this: First, demarcation disputes between supervisor and student are always difficult, probably impossible to resolve. Secondly, it is the supervisor who has the final responsibility for the success or failure of the project. We hear of cases where a supervisor blames his student for a failure, but we know that it is largely the fault of the supervisor. It seems only fair to me that he should benefit from the successes, too. Thirdly, I believe it would demean Nobel Prizes if they were awarded to research students, except in very exceptional cases, and I do not believe this is one of them. Finally, I am not myself upset about it – after all, I am in good company, am I not!
There's an interview show on RTE presented by Tommy Tiernan. I don't care for him much, but I happened to be watching the episode where JJB was interviewed. The thing that makes the show interesting (modulo Tommy, the prick) is that he doesn't know who the next guest will be, and often doesn't know why they're notable even when he is told their name, live. So, he has to ask them questions. "Why are you notable?". This I love, because it's a recognition that there are many people who do, and have done, really interesting, worthwhile things without necessarily being known to more than a small segment of the population. [I feel this way about footballers and opera singers. I know a few really big names, but it's mostly a clouded mountain top to me]
So, JJB is interviewed. Approximately like this:
TT: So, who are you? Why are you interesting?
JJB: I discovered pulsars.
TT: ... what's a pulsar?
JJB: <explanation>
.. drifts into talk about Nobel prizes. JJB continues as you say to be a class act. Then onto spirituality [not my bag]
I wish I could find the whole interview for you. It was gold. Although the subject matter of the segment I linked isn't that interesting to me, the format, and spirit (sorry) of open and honest enquiry is really good IMO. I wish we had more TV like this.
> It has been suggested that I should have had a part in the Nobel Prize awarded to Tony Hewish for the discovery of pulsars. There are several comments that I would like to make on this: First, demarcation disputes between supervisor and student are always difficult, probably impossible to resolve. Secondly, it is the supervisor who has the final responsibility for the success or failure of the project. We hear of cases where a supervisor blames his student for a failure, but we know that it is largely the fault of the supervisor. It seems only fair to me that he should benefit from the successes, too. Thirdly, I believe it would demean Nobel Prizes if they were awarded to research students, except in very exceptional cases, and I do not believe this is one of them. Finally, I am not myself upset about it – after all, I am in good company, am I not!