Joseph H. Taylor, Jr. Photo credit: Office of Communications, Princeton University.

Joseph Hooton Taylor, Jr. (born March 29, 1941) is an American astrophysicist and winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physics, shared with his former student Russell Alan Hulse, for the discovery of a new type of pulsar, a discovery that has opened up new possibilities for the study of gravitation. Joseph Hooton Taylor Jr. ... Joseph Hooton Taylor Jr. ... March 29 is the 88th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (89th in Leap years). ... For the movie, see 1941 (film) 1941 (MCMXLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... An astrophysicist is a person whose profession is astrophysics. ... 1993 (MCMXCIII) is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... Hannes Alfvén, 1970 winner for work on astrophysical plasmas List of Nobel Prize laureates in Physics from 1901 to the present day. ... Russell Alan Hulse (born November 28, 1950) is an American physicist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics, shared with his thesis advisor Joseph Hooton Taylor Jr. ...

Early years

Taylor was born in Philadelphia to Joseph Hooton Taylor, Sr., and Sarah Evans Taylor, both of whom had Quaker roots for many generations. He was educated at Haverford College (B.A. Physics 1963) and Harvard University (Ph.D. Astronomy 1968). After a brief research position at Harvard, Taylor went to the University of Massachusetts, eventually becoming Professor of Astronomy and Associate Director of the Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory. Taylor's thesis work was on lunar occultation measurements. About the time he completed his Ph.D., Jocelyn Bell discovered the first radio pulsars with a telescope near Cambridge, England. Philadelphia is a village located in Jefferson County, New York. ... The Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as Quakers, or Friends, is a religious community founded in England in the 17th century. ... Haverford College is a private, coeducational, highly-selective liberal arts college located in Haverford, Pennsylvania. ... A Bachelor of Arts (B.A. or A.B., from the Latin Artium Baccalaureus) is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for a course or program in the arts and/or sciences. ... Since antiquity, people have tried to understand the behavior of matter: why unsupported objects drop to the ground, why different materials have different properties, and so forth. ... 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Harvard redirects here. ... Doctor of Philosophy (Ph. ... Astrometry: the study of the position of objects in the sky and their changes of position. ... 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... The University of Massachusetts (commonly referred to as UMass) is the five-campus public university system of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. ... A professor (Latin: one who claims publicly to be an expert) (prof for short) is a senior teacher, lecturer and researcher, usually in a college or university. ... FRCAO Radome-enclosed 14-m Telescope. ... In this July, 1997 still frame captured from video, the bright star Aldebaran has just reappeared on the dark limb of the waning crescent moon in this predawn occultation. ... Jocelyn Bell Burnell (born Jocelyn Bell, 15 July 1943), British astrophysicist who discovered the first radio pulsars with her thesis advisor Antony Hewish. ... Map of the Cambridgeshire area (1904) The city of Cambridge is an old English university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire. ... Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population - Total (mid-2004) - Density Ranked 1st UK 50. ...

Middle years

Taylor immediately went to the National Radio Astronomy Observatory's telescopes in Green Bank, West Virginia, and participated in the discovery of the first pulsars discovered outside Cambridge. Since then, he has worked on all aspects of pulsar astrophysics. In 1974, Hulse and Taylor discovered the first pulsar in a binary system, named PSR B1913+16 after its position in the sky, during a survey for pulsars at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. Although it was not understood at the time, this was also the first of what are now called recycled pulsars: neutron stars that have been spun-up to fast spin rates by the transfer of mass onto their surfaces from a companion star. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) is an institution set up by the United States government for the purpose of radio astronomy. ... Green Bank is located within Pocahontas County, West Virginia (Eastern Region), inside the Allegheny Mountain Range, and can be reached via Hwy 28. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). ... Composite Optical/X-ray image of the Crab Nebula pulsar, showing surrounding nebular gases stirred by the pulsars magnetic field and radiation. ... Look up binary in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The Arecibo Observatory is located in Arecibo, Puerto Rico on the north coast of the island. ... Cross section of a neutron star A neutron star is a type of degenerate star composed mostly of densely packed neutrons, generally about 25 km in diameter and as massive as an average star. ...

The orbit of this binary system is slowly shrinking as it loses energy because of emission of gravitational radiation. The predicted rate of shrinkage can be precisely predicted from Einstein's theory, and over a thirty-year period Taylor and his colleagues have made measurements that match this prediction to much better than 1% accuracy. There are now scores of binary pulsars known, and independent measurements have now confirmed Taylor's results.

Later years

In 1980, he moved to Princeton University, where he is currently the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor in Physics, having also served for six years as Dean of Faculty. 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... Princeton University, located in Princeton, New Jersey, is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States. ... James Smith McDonnell (April 9, 1899 - August 22, 1980) was an aviation pioneer and founder of McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, later McDonnell Douglas. ... In an educational setting, a dean is a person with significant authority . ... Look up Faculty on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Faculty has several different meanings and can refer to: University faculty are the instructors and/or researchers of high standing at universities, as opposed to the students or support staff. ...

Nobel

Taylor has used this first binary pulsar to make high-precision tests of general relativity. Working with his colleague Joel Weisberg, Taylor has used observations of this pulsar to demonstrated the existence of gravitational radiation in the amount and with the properties first predicted by Albert Einstein. He and Hulse shared the Nobel Prize for the discovery of this object. A binary star system consists of two stars both orbiting around their barycenter. ... Composite Optical/X-ray image of the Crab Nebula pulsar, showing surrounding nebular gases stirred by the pulsars magnetic field and radiation. ... General relativity (GR) is the geometrical theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1915. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Albert Einstein photographed by Oren J. Turner in 1947. ... Sir Edward Appletons medal Photographs of Nobel Prize Medals. ...

Other awards

In addition to the Nobel Prize, Taylor has been recognized with many other awards, including the first Heineman Prize of the American Astronomical Society, the Henry Draper Medal of the National Academy of Sciences, the Tomalla Foundation Prize, the Magellanic Premium, the Carty Award for the Advancement of Science, the Einstein Prize, the Wolf Prize in Physics, and the Schwartzchild Medal. He was among the first group of MacArthur Fellows. He has served on many boards, committees, and panels, co-chairing the Decadal Panel of that produced the report Astronomy and Astrophysics in the New Millennium that established the United States's national priorities in astronomy and astrophysics for the period 2000-2010. The Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics is jointly awarded each year by the American Astronomical Society and American Institute of Physics for outstanding work in astrophysics. ... The American Astronomical Society (AAS) is a US society of professional astronomers and other interested individuals, headquartered in Washington, DC. The main aim of the AAS is provide a political voice for its members and organise their lobbying. ... The Henry Draper Medal was established by the widow of Henry Draper, and is awarded by the US National Academy of Sciences for contributions to astrophysics. ... President Harding and the National Academy of Sciences at the White House, Washington, DC, April 1921 The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine. ... The Magellanic Premium also known as the Magellanic Gold Medal and Magellanic Prize was established in 1786 through a grant by the grandson of Ferdinand Magellan Jean-Hyacynthe Magellan. ... The Wolf Prize has been awarded annually since 1978 to living scientists and artists for achievements in the interest of mankind and friendly relations among peoples, irrespective of nationality, race, colour, religion, sex or political views. The prize is awarded in Israel by the Wolf Foundation, founded by Dr. Ricardo... The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private, independent grantmaking institution. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... 2010 (MMX) is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Joseph Taylor, Dept. of Physics, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey
• 1993 Nobel Physics Winners
• Nobel autobiography